If someone checks your home while you are away,,,

[cthulu2016]

this is not to suggest that anybody in Boston will get into this kind of trouble in the practical real-world. It is about a legal question that is interesting as an abstract legal question

say there's a hot pursuit search for a kidnapped child or something -- very serious stuff -- and cops end up in your house while you're away.

And say that there is no kidnapped child, but there is a bag of weed on your coffee table.

And say you walk in ad say, "what's up?"

Can they bust you?

Yes. It's one of our creepier legal situations. If cops were there properly then whatever they see or find is up for grabs. (Same as when they ask if they can step inside your home. Basic manners says yes, but when you let them in you have given permission for a cursory search. "Plain sight&quot

In the weed case, seems pretty outrageous. But what if they busted into your basement to look for a kidnapped kid ad there were ten corpses stacked there? (But none of them the missing kid) We are not comfortable with asking that the cops somehow forget that you are a serial killer ad just move along.

The right solution would be to allow only evidence of very serious crimes gathered in that way (where there was no probable cause relative to the evidence) but then we would have to admit that we have un-serious crimes.

It's a puzzle. There's really no oe approach I would be comfortable applying to all scenarios.


(This comes up a surprising lot. As a general rule the cops cannot search your car for drugs but they can search a lot of your car for weapons because the cops lives are on the line -- SCOTUS reasons that they must be able to protect themselves from your assumed weapons. And when they find drugs then you are busted... but they were looking for weapons. It's a way around probable cause.)

[Bicoastal]

1. Given how crucial time has been in this case...

...I doubt they'd waste any time doing paperwork on anything that wasn't an illegal weapon or a body.

[Agnosticsherbet]

2. If they have probable cause to enter your house, such as the pursuit of a felon or

a search for a victim, yes they could charge you.

However, in a case like the one in Boston, they are not likely to sweat small stuff like a bag of weed you left out in the open.

If you are concerned, put you bags of weed in a drawer. Looking for a human being fleeing a crime, or a victim of a crime, they are not going to be searching through your underwear drawer and probable cause would not allow them to think your dresser is concealing a felon.

[pennylane100]

3. I guess the moral of that story is simple.

Hide your weed when you go away.
If some had reported that they thought the suspect may have entered your house, that have been a legitimate reason for the cops to search it. However if the weed was hidden in plastic bag at the bottom of a half full can of coffee that had been hidden in a old shoe box that was under a pile of old clothes in a suitcase in the locked cupboard in the garage, they would have a hard time justifying how they found it.

[cthulu2016]

8. True. Avoid plain sight if concerned.

[notadmblnd]

4. yes. google the "in plain site statute"

or something similar to that

[Nye Bevan]

5. Legalize weed. (nt)

[ecstatic]

6. What if the drugs are not yours? nt

[pennylane100]

10. That is a very good point.

I think that is why the SOL acronym was invented.

[NoPasaran]

7. Jeez people, that's why they invented drawers

Don't leave your weed on the coffee table when you leave the house.

[treestar]

9. There is an emergent situation exception to the warrant requirement

So they could. As a practical matter, they might not bother; they are dealing with a kidnapping in progress.

[bluedigger]

11. It will probably be confiscated.

And disposed of in the traditional fashion.