Q: There was a burglary in my Park City, Utah neighborhood, so police officers were wandering the neighborhood asking people if they saw the burglary suspects or anything suspicious. When they got to my door, I politely invited them in and even offered them a drink of water. Then one of the officers tells me that he saw a marijuana joint on my kitchen table and goes to arrest me. I was like, “what?” Yeah, I forgot that I left a joint on the table, but I was really nice to these guys and invited them into my home. Was this legal?
Your first mistake was inviting the cops into your Park City home. Never, ever do this! Even if you don’t have anything to hide, police should not be allowed into your home. You could have talked to them on your front porch rather than inviting them in. If you wanted to offer them water, you still could have done this on your front porch.
Normally, cops need a search warrant to perform a search in your home. Although you were trying to be nice and hospitable, letting cops into your home gives them the right to seize evidence or contraband that they see in plain view. This is called the “plain view doctrine,” meaning that anything that cops don’t need a search warrant to seize evidence or contraband that is in plain view of a place that they have a right to be. Because you let them into your home, the cops had a right to be there and had a right to arrest you for the joint on your kitchen table.
There may be other legal issues in your case, but only an experienced and skilled Utah criminal defense attorney, who practices in Park City, could help you discover those issues.
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Tags: plain view doctrine, police, search warrant
