United States v. Philip Carwin Pretzinger, United States of America v. Michael Dean Roberts

In October, 1975, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration learned that a Piper Cherokee Six, N-4001W, (the Clark plane), had been sold by a Dr. Donald E. Clark to one Sanders for $17,000 in cash. They further were informed that all of the seats had been removed from the aircraft except the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats.

On October 21, 1975, Darrell Carrico, a pilot with the Border Patrol, happened to be at Paul Dickens’ repair shop at Tucson International Airport when Donald Clark II, son of Dr. Clark, brought the Clark plane in for repairs. While a mechanic was working on the plane, Carrico went up to it, looked through the open doors and observed what he believed to be marijuana debris on the floor of the plane. He went into the plane and took some of the marijuana seeds. He then called the Drug Enforcement Administration (D.E.A.), which sent over two agents to investigate. One of these agents looked into the plane, saw the seeds and seized some of them. No warrant was obtained prior to either search of the plane.

On November 4, 1975, the United States Attorney applied to the United States Magistrate for an order allowing an electronic location buzzer to be placed on the…