Can a search warrant be used to search an apartment for a stolen radio in plain sight?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from Guidi v. Superior Court, 10 Cal.3d 1, 109 Cal.Rptr. 684, 513 P.2d 908 (Cal. 1973):

9 '(T)he officers in the present case could properly make only that kind of search reasonably necessary to determine whether a person was actually a distress somewhere in the apartment. They could not, for example, ransack the premises or rummage through desk drawers. On the other hand, in the course of conducting a reasonable search they did not have to blind themselves to what was in plain sight simply because it was disconnected with the purpose for which they entered. . . . ( ) In formulating the rules governing lawful searches and seizures the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly recognized the distinction between the seizure of evidence which was readily visible and accessible to the officers and that which was uncovered only after a general, unreasonable ransacking of the premises. . . . ( ) . . . The trial court found on substantial evidence that the entry was lawful for the purpose of rendering aid, hence the officers were justified in entering each room of the apartment to look for someone in distress. The radio was in plain sight, and it fitted the general description of property known by the officers to be stolen. Under the circumstances, there appears to be no reason in law or common sense why one of the officers could not pick up the radio and examine it for the purpose of dispelling or confirming his suspicions. The fact that abuses sometimes occur during the course of criminal investigations should not give a sinister coloration to procedures which are basically reasonable.' (People v. Roberts, supra, 47 Cal.2d at pp. 378--380, 303 P.2d at pp. 723--724.)

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