Legal Question in Criminal Law in Kentucky

Re: plain view dctrine

Must have been one hell of a party! If the "lady of the house" invited the police into the house, there appears no basis for excluding from evidence any of the items listed.

Commonwealth v. Coleman, No. 2003-CA-001681-MR (Ky.App. 06/25/2004)states: The rationale of the plain-view doctrine is that if contraband is left in open view and is observed by a police officer from a lawful vantage point, there has been no invasion of a legitimate expectation of privacy and thus no "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment--or at least no search independent of the initial intrusion that gave the officers their vantage point. The warrantless seizure of contraband that presents itself in this manner is deemed justified by the realization that resort to a neutral magistrate under such circumstances would often be impracticable and would do little to promote the objectives of the Fourth Amendment.