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MA: SW for premises permitted digging in the yard

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Looking in the yard and seeing fresh dirt and digging up a stash of cocaine was within the scope of a search warrant for the premises. Commonwealth v. Perez, 2010 Mass. App. LEXIS 250 (March 5, 2010): There is no merit in the defendant's further assertion that he had a privacy interest in burying the drugs. Here, it is apparent that the drugs were secreted to escape detection, and the search conducted within the curtilage was proper. The police were not required to establish independent probable cause for that portion of the search. Compare Commonwealth v. Signorine, 404 Mass. 400, 405, 535 N.E.2d 601 (1989). Police went to defendant’s home because a runaway underage female was reportedly there. They knocked and no one answered. Finally, they said they were coming in if he didn’t answer so he did...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 09, 2010 (boomark / email).