Warrantless Police Search Within the Curtilage of Domicile: When Is It Legal? (From Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook, P 1-3, 1990, Joseph C. Coleman)

• NCJ Number: 123695
• Author(s): J C Coleman
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 3 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: South Carolina Law Enforcement Training Council
• Corporate Author: South Carolina Criminal Justice Acad
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

In its 1990 decision in United States v. Emmens, the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a warrantless search of an airplane that was found to be carrying cocaine brought into Florida from the Gulf of Mexico.

Abstract

Emmens acknowledged that he had not stopped the plane until landing at an airstrip abutting his home. Customs agents, working with Drug Enforcement Agency officers, had continuously tracked his flight, following tips from informants that Emmens would be bringing cocaine from Colombia. The Customs agents allowed Emmens to park the plane in his private hangar. The hangar was about 60 feet from Emmens's house, was the same color as the house, and was used to store items used daily in the house. The Customs agents apprehended Emmens after he left the hangar, entering the hangar through its open door. An agent saw duffel bags through the plane window, opened the plane's door, opened a duffel bag, and found a package that appeared to be contraband. Neither Customs nor DEA searched the hangar. Diagram.