Most of our readers in Georgia probably know that the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects them against unlawful search and seizure. However, what most people don’t know is that the development of constitutional case law through U.S. Supreme Court decisions has led to many exceptions to that Fourth Amendment protection. The so-called plain view doctrine is one such exception.
Plain view basics
At first glance, the plain view doctrine is fairly straightforward: If a law enforcement official sees evidence of a crime in plain view, there is no need to obtain a warrant to seize the evidence. Of course, from there, plenty of disagreement can arise on such subjective topics such as whether or not the evidence in question actually was in plain view or whether or not the law enforcement official had a right to be in the place where he saw the evidence.
If the plain view doctrine is a part of your criminal case, an analysis of the potential impact on your constitutional rights needs to be part of the first steps in your efforts to build a defense case. Violating a criminal defendant’s constitutional rights can lead to a variety of motions that may impact the ultimate ability of the case to proceed, such as motions to suppress evidence or even motions to dismiss the case.
If you have been arrested in Georgia and you believe your constitutional rights were violated in the arrest phase, you need to have the facts and circumstances of your arrest carefully evaluated. Criminal cases oftentimes cannot proceed if the evidence that would be used to attempt to secure a conviction was obtained in violation of a defendant’s constitutional rights.