Court Opinion

ID: 9426492
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:18:07.67979+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:01.303003
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Stevens,
with whom Mr. Justice Stewart joins, concurring.
When Officer Gilletti placed McCafferty under arrest, the police had sufficient information to obtain a warrant for the arrest of Santana in her home. It is therefore important to note that their failure to obtain a warrant at that juncture was both (a) a justifiable police decision, and (b) even if not justifiable, harmless.
The decision was justified by the significant risk that the marked money would no longer be in Santana’s possession if the police waited until a warrant could be obtained. The failure to seek a warrant was harmless *45because it would have been proper to keep the Santana residence under surveillance while the warrant was being sought; since she ventured into plain view, a warrantless arrest would have been justified before the warrant could have been procured.
I therefore join the opinion of the Court.