United States v. John Louis Van Damme

This search and seizure case involves a helicopter view of greenhouses, a view through a fence, and execution of a subsequently obtained search warrant without having the papers along.

I. Facts

Van Damme lived in a house in rural Montana. He grew marijuana, over two thousand plants, in three large greenhouses. The greenhouses, shaped like Quonset huts and made of translucent plastic, were separated from the rest of his property by a high board fence. The fenced off greenhouse compound was 204 feet away from Van Damme’s house.

An unidentified individual, called the “citizen informant” in the record, went to Van Damme’s house to ask if Van Damme had permission for a water line running to his property from a well on adjacent property. The citizen noticed marijuana growing in one of Van Damme’s greenhouses, and told the police. County police and the Drug Enforcement Agency flew over the greenhouses in a helicopter, and looked through the board fence into the open doors of the greenhouses, to verify that Van Damme had marijuana growing there. Then they obtained and executed a search warrant. Van Damme’s appeal is based on claimed defects in the search and seizure of the evidence…