Exam 10: The Plain View Doctrine and Special Needs Searches

Law enforcement agents of the Drug Enforcement Agency flying over a large forest observe a cultivated patch in the forest. Suspecting that it is a marijuana field, they land and approach on foot where they verify that it is marijuana and arrest a person working in the field. Their observations from the plane _____.

While searching the relevant computer files pursuant to a search warrant for the crime of distribution of child pornography, officers find reference to a "customer ledger." After this information is discovered, an officer observes a notebook lying on the kitchen counter with the words "customer ledger" written on the front cover. The officers may legally _____.

Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366 (1993), applied the principles of the plain view doctrine to a situation in which a law enforcement officer discovered contraband through the sense of touch during an otherwise lawful search. This is sometimes called the plain ____________________________ doctrine.

Police officers were stationed on a hill 300 yards from the rear of the suspect's eighth floor apartment. With a telescope the officers could observe through the partially closed drapes at the rear that the suspect was engaged in an illegal activity. The officers' information _____.

Name the three requirements that officers must satisfy in order to justify a seizure of evidence under the plain view doctrine.

What is the first and primary requirement for an officer to seize evidence under the plain view doctrine?

Describe the plain touch or plain feel doctrine.

What is meant by a controlled delivery and why is it used?

During a search, an officer observes, in plain view, an item not covered in the warrant. The officer believes the item to be evidence in a separate crime other than the offense currently being investigated by police. In order to seize the item, the officer must have _____ to believe the item is contraband or evidence of a crime.

The prior valid intrusion requirement means that the officer must have lawfully arrived at the place from which (s)he perceived the item to be seized.

The requirements of the plain view doctrine do not include that the _____.

Law enforcement authorities, rather than simply seizing contraband, often make a so-called _________ delivery of the container, monitoring the container on its journey to the intended destination.

If a police officer lawfully pats down a suspect's outer clothing and feels an object and the contour or mass of the object makes its identity immediately apparent, there has been no invasion of the suspect's privacy beyond that already authorized by the officer's search for weapons.

An officer's use of a pair of binoculars to develop probable cause for plain view searches and seizures is conceptually distinct from an officer's use of a flashlight for the same purpose. This is because _____.

A police officer lawfully pats down a suspect's outer clothing, feels an object, and the contour or mass of the object makes its identity immediately apparent that the item is a bag of cocaine. It is true that _____.

The plain view rule applies only to those things which can be seen without any mechanical or electrical aids to assist in observing items of evidence.

Briefly describe the plain view doctrine.

Although the plain view doctrine does not allow a law enforcement officer to conduct a further search of an object to determine its incriminating nature, it has been established that an officer may use ____________________ or ____________________ aids to assist in observing items of evidence.

Once a container has been found to a certainty (through legal means) to contain illicit drugs, the contraband becomes like objects physically within the plain view of the police, and the claim to privacy is lost.

Under the plain view doctrine, an officer viewing illegal drugs on a coffee table while executing an arrest warrant may seize the drugs.