Opinion ID: 1937349
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Constitutionality of the Warrantless Search of the Lamp Post

Text: The judge below found that the warrantless search of the Lamp Post violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution on the ground that there were no exigent circumstances obviating the procurement of a search warrant. We find it unnecessary to address the issue of exigency because there was no probable cause justifying a warrantless search in any event. The issue of whether exigent circumstances existed becomes relevant only if there has been a threshold finding that there was probable cause for the search. See, e. g., State v. Barclay, Me., 398 A.2d 794, 797 (1979). From Carter's own testimony at the suppression hearing, it appears that this basis for believing that the Sweatts' jewelry in the Lamp Post was subject to seizure was that the quantity of Maine tourmaline seized there weeks earlier under the October warrants far exceeded the amount that McCrillis had told him Dale Sweatt could legally possess. We have pointed out above, in discussing the description of the items to be seized, the fallacy of assuming that even if it was true that Dale Sweatt could lawfully possess only twelve pounds of Maine tourmaline in 1975, he could not be in lawful possession of more than that amount in 1980. Nothing in McCrillis's narration to Detective Carter served to exclude the obvious possibility that the Sweatts, as gem dealers, could have acquired additional amounts of Maine tourmaline over a period of five years by purchase or other lawful means. The state thus failed to meet its burden of showing that Carter had probable cause to seize the Sweatts' jewelry at the Lamp Post.