Scenario: You are a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration. You have been working on a drug smuggling case for the past 18 months without making an arrest or seizure. The information you have up to this point indicates that a small group of drug dealers is trying to expand their operation and eventually control all of the cocaine shipments to the United States destined for Tucson, Phoenix, and Tempe, AZ.
You receive a tip from a source that a shipment of 10 kilos of pure cocaine is coming to a crack house in Tucson tonight. The source gives you the address and the approximate time of the shipment. He also tells you that he does not know who will be delivering the drugs, but they are bad dudes. Although you had hoped for a bigger seizure, you need to make a case against someone and hope this case leads you to larger seizures. You then organize a surveillance and raid team. You also obtain a search warrant that lists the address and what you expect to find. You wait until dark and put your teams in position.
Around 10:00PM, a dark-colored sedan drives up, and two males exit the vehicle and start walking toward the house. One of the two men is carrying a small package. You want to allow sufficient time for the two men to get comfortable enough to begin cutting the cocaine, so you wait for approximately an hour. You then give the signal to raid the house.
As you enter, you observe one of the males escaping through a side door, and you pursue on foot. He is carrying the same small package that you observed him carrying when he first went into the house. The suspect runs about two blocks, stopping occasionally to fire his weapon in your direction. Fortunately, you are not shot. The suspect runs into a small apartment building and enters an unlocked first- floor apartment door. You hear a woman scream and then a gunshot. Other special agents are only a few steps behind you.
The suspect runs into a dark, back bedroom. Rather then entering an unlit room, you call out to the suspect and inform him that the apartment is full of angry special agents, and he has no chance of escape. After a few minutes, the suspect tells you that he is willing to give up and runs out of the room carrying a package. Other special agents immediately subdue him. You notice that the package he is now carrying is not the same package he was carrying earlier and that he is not armed.
You advise the suspect that he is under arrest for attempted murder and possession of cocaine. The suspect is ushered out of the apartment, and you and the remaining special agents initiate a search. While doing so, you find a woman hiding in a walk-in closet in another bedroom. Next to her on the floor is cash, a small cache of weapons, and well over 50 kilos of cocaine. She is obviously scared. At this point, you do not know the woman’s name or if she is connected to the suspect and the uncovered evidence.
Legal Issue #1: Did the special agents have the authority to conduct a search of the house? Provide a list of references, and the analysis to support your conclusion.
Legal Issue #2: Can any evidence that you uncovered be used at trial? Provide a list of references, and the analysis to support your conclusion.
