How close can police officers get to a window of a house in the middle of a residential street?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Lovelace, 116 Cal.App.3d 541, 172 Cal.Rptr. 65 (Cal. App. 1981):

"All of the evidence produced at the preliminary examination and the suppression hearing demonstrated that the officers could not see into the residence from either the public street or the adjacent apartment driveway. Indeed (the surveilling officer) testified that he could neither see nor hear anything inside the Lorenzana home until he came within five or six inches of the window on the east side of the dwelling. The trial court's denial of defendants' motion to suppress can be sustained only by a finding that an implicit invitation offered by the observable characteristics of the house and surrounding property gave the officers the right to position themselves only six inches away from that window.... None of (the) evidence could support a finding that normal approach to the Lorenzana home would [116 Cal.App.3d 552] lead the public to within six inches of the window in question." (Lorenzana v. Superior Court, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 635, 108 Cal.Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33, emphasis added.)

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