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CA4: Cellphone call to confederate inside created exigency

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's cellphone call as he was being stopped with probable cause created exigent circumstances. The officers had no cause to go into the premises until they discovered he made a call to a confederate and that something was going on inside. United States v. Moses, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 18772 (4th Cir. September 2, 2008): It is true that the officers initially had no evidence suggesting that another person was present in 407-A North Cedar Street. When, however, Moses made a telephone call during the course of the traffic stop to his cousin at 407-B North Cedar Street -- the residence adjacent to unit 407-A from which Moses was seen to have emerged -- Sergeant Kroh became concerned that Moses had warned someone back at Cedar Street about the police so that evidence at 407-A could be removed or destroyed...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 05, 2008 (boomark / email).