Opinion ID: 1877642
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: officers' initial entry onto merrill's driveway

Text: In approximately mid-September 1995, Deputy Steven G. Roemmich of the Fillmore County Sheriff's Department received a tip from an identified area resident that plants suspected to be marijuana were growing on Merrill's property. On September 25, 1995, at approximately 1 p.m., Roemmich and Fillmore County Sheriff William L. Burgess drove by Merrill's farmstead and observed Merrill and his wife standing in the yard. The officers pulled into Merrill's driveway and turned around. Merrill approached the officers' vehicle, and Burgess spoke with him for approximately 3 minutes about an unrelated stolen-check case in York County, Nebraska. While Burgess spoke with Merrill, he and Roemmich observed two plants approximately 20 to 30 feet away, just east of Merrill's garage, that the officers believed to be cultivated, not wild, marijuana. Upon completion of the discussion, the officers pulled out of Merrill's driveway, without having exited their patrol vehicle, and drove to the Fillmore County sheriff's office.