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D.Me.: Fire scene search does not depend just on threat to people

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Clifford and Tyler on fire scene searches do not distinguish between protection of people and property. Here, a blood trail was also seen. United States v. Infante, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1131 (D. Me. January 3, 2011): Defense counsel distinguished Finnigin on grounds that, in that case, there had been a visible fire and, therefore, evidence of an ongoing process, whereas, in this case, there was none. He reasoned that whereas, in Finnigin, the existence of an ongoing process justified firefighters in entering the suspect’s house to ensure that the process (the fire) had been extinguished, in this case, firefighters only speculated, in the face of a lack of objective evidence, that any such process had transpired or was continuing to transpire in the defendant’s house...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 08, 2011 (boomark / email).