Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

OR: Blue discoloration on an ammonia tank announced its contents | Warrant not needed to replicate private search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Blue discoloration on an ammonia tank announced its contents, and a warrant was not needed to test it. State v. Heckathorne, 2009 Ore. LEXIS 1023 (December 31, 2009), revg State v. Heckathorne, 218 Ore. App. 283, 179 P.3d 693 (2008): The same must be said with respect to that court's ruling on the merits. The Court of Appeals concentrated its attention on the meaning of the blue discoloration on the fittings of the cylinder: Did that discoloration, or did it not, fairly give rise to the inference that the cylinder contained anhydrous ammonia? In our view, that issue can be argued either way, and it has been. We express no opinion on it, however, because the record in this case contained other, decisive evidence. As noted above, the police opened and vented some of the contents of the cylinder...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 06, 2010 (boomark / email).