Cindy Castillo a criminal defense lawyer with Castillo Law in Phoenix Arizona explains what Reasonable Search means.
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Hi my name is Cindy Castillo with Castillo Law. What I would like to talk about today is a new Supreme Court decision that came down in March 2013.
The Supreme Court decision is US Supreme Court vs Jardines. What this case basically says is this: if you are in your home, that officers are not allowed to be an uninvited guest, come to your house, find some type of illegal activity, and then go to a judge apply for a warrant, and use that as a basis to come inside of your home and search it.
Now the Supreme Court was looking at a case where there was an individual that they had received some tip/information about illegal activity. The officers watched the house didn’t see any illegal activity, but then decided to bring on a drug dog onto the property. When they did that the drug dog alerted the officers to there being illegal drugs in the home. They then applied for a search warrant and were granted access into the home. They went into the home and what the US Supreme Court said is that they cannot do that, because they were not invited guest in the home.
If you have a situation where you believe that the officers have gone too far, and were actually uninvited guests on your property, and then were given access to go near your home, and search it please feel free to contact me. Now of course every single case is different but I do offer free consultations, and I’ll be happy to discuss that with you.
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