United States v. Steven Peter Ojeda
Opinion
Opinion
In this criminal prosecution for drugs, the government appeals the suppression of evidence of a methamphetamine laboratory seized from a warrantless search of a garage on residential property. We hold that the search was lawful under the exigent circumstances exception to the fourth amendment’s warrant requirement and REVERSE.
The police believed that methamphetamine production was occurring at defendant-appellee Steven Peter Ojeda’s residential property. The police obtained a search warrant describing the area to be searched as
It was held by the district court and conceded by the government that this warrant did not include the garage immediately behind and about five feet from the residential structure. That is the place where this search took place.
When the police were in that area in the course of executing the search of the residence, defendant Ojeda emerged from the garage. The garage door immediately slammed shut and was locked from the inside. The officers smelled the odor of chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine, which the officers knew to be combustible. The officers then entered the garage and discovered the methamphetamine laboratory.