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M.D.Fla.: No time for anticipatory SW left police with a protective sweep, which was valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's tight control over the movement of the drugs and the money prevented an anticipatory search warrant and created exigency itself. Therefore, the police were justified in entry on a Buie protective sweep and the plain view that resulted was lawful. United States v. Flores, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 707 (M.D. Fla. January 7, 2009) (the court also chided the lawyers for not citing Grubbs): As Grubbs stated, an anticipatory search warrant cannot issue until the officers have probable cause that the triggering condition will occur. The triggering condition in this case was the confidential source seeing the crystal meth; as the officers correctly recognized, given the multiple occasions when this group of suspects had promised drugs but failed to deliver, nothing short of seeing the drugs was sufficient...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 09, 2009 (boomark / email).