Murray v. United States (487 U.S. 533)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 27, 1988 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 487 U.S. 533 · 108 S. Ct. 2529
- Decided
- June 27, 1988
- Term
- October Term 1987
- Vote
- 4–3
- Majority author
- Justice Scalia
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. In Segura v. United States, 468 U. S. 796 (1984), we held that police officers’ illegal entry upon' private’ premises did not require suppression of evidence subsequently discovered at those premises when executing a search warrant’obtained on the basis of information wholly unconnected with the initial entry. In these consolidated cases we are faced with the question whether, again assuming evidence obtained pursuant to an independently obtained search warrant, the portion of such evidence that had been observed in plain view at the time of a prior illegal entry must be suppressed. I Both cases arise out of the conviction of petitioner Michael F. Murray, petitioner James D. Carter, and others for conspiracy to possess and distribute illegal drugs. Insofar as relevant for our purposes, the facts are as follows: Based on information received from informants, federal law enforcement agents had been surveilling petitioner Murray and several of his co-conspirators. At about 1:45 p.m. on April 6, 1983, they observed Murray drive a truck and Carter drive a green camper, into a warehouse in South Boston. When the petitioners drove the vehicles out about 20 minutes later, the surveilling agents saw within the warehouse two individuals and a tractor-trailer rig bearing a long, dark container. Murray and Carter later turned over the…
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