California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Forrest, F054396 (Cal. App. 1/8/2009), F054396. (Cal. App. 2009):
"The plain-view doctrine permits, in the course of a search authorized by a search warrant, the seizure of an item not listed in the warrant, if the police lawfully are in a position from which they view the item, if its incriminating character is immediately apparent, and if the officers have a lawful right of access to the object. [Citations.] In such circumstances, the warrantless seizure of evidence of crime in plain view is not prohibited by the Fourth Amendment, even if the discovery of the evidence is not inadvertent. [Citation.] Where an officer has a valid warrant to search for one item but merely a suspicion, not amounting to probable cause, concerning a second item, that second item is not immunized from seizure if found during a lawful search for the first item. [Citation.] This rule was stated by the high court in Horton [Horton v. California (1990) 496 U.S. 128] in the context of a search conducted pursuant to a warrant, notwithstanding the circumstance that in other cases applying the plain view doctrine in various contexts, the determination that the incriminating nature of an item was `immediately apparent' was based upon whether the officers had probable cause to believe that the item was either evidence of a crime or contraband. [Citations.]" (People v. Bradford (1997) 15 Cal.4th 1229, 1293-1294.)
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