And anyway, what is a lesser offense? Drug trafficking are serious offenses if you go by maximum sentences.
Drug trafficking are serious offenses if you go by maximum sentences.
We should employ a more rational approach. I believe there's greater security in maximizing the payoff for cooperation rather than the punishment for prior defection.
My hope is that the cannabis would then be fruit of the poisoned tree and reaffirms my belief that you would never work with the cops to any degree.
I guess it would have turned on whether the cops' lingering suspicion was reasonable. Legally, this isn't so much weighing one point of view against another, as the LEO/state being able to construct a reasoned argument to justify the search - which is almost always possible.
For example, I recall a murder case where a guy was pulled over on the freeway in the small hours of the morning and turned out to have a dead body in the trunk. The defendant challenged the validity of the stop at appeal. The reason offered at trial for the stop was that a) there had been a string of auto burglaries in that area; b) it was dry but had rained earlier, and there were still water drops on the car - suggesting it had been parked a short time earlier; c) the freeway was almost empty but the vehicle as staying scrupulously at the speed limit. So the cop reason-ably suspected it could be a car thief and pulled the driver over to check. The court agreed.
I remember being very troubled by a case from years ago about a cop who knocked on someone's door because neighbors had heard screaming. The resident and his girlfriend had been having loud sex, but agreed to let the cop verify no violence was taking place. During the visit the cop noticed some cannabis plants and the man was convicted of possession with intent to distribute.
My rule of thumb if I were rewriting the law would be that the inadvertently discovered crime must be as or more serious than that which is being reported/investigated. If a person is a victim of or an honest cooperator in the investigation of a serious crime, lesser offenses should be held in abeyance, although a warning of potential liability in future unrelated police contacts would be acceptable.