CA7: Drug stakeout led to stumbling upon CP in plain view

Officers were in a park looking for a drug meet up. They incidentally noticed defendant’s car and his actions suggested he might be doing drugs. They approached him and smelled marijuana coming from the car, but he was in the car apparently looking at child pornography on his phone and looking at children playing, pleasuring himself. He was arrested for drug possession and his laptop and cell phone were seized and a search warrant obtained for them for child pornography. The observation in the park was reasonable and not a violation of the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Lickers, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 19188 (7th Cir. June 27, 2019).

Officers in a drug task force creeping down the street in a car passed defendant’s car and smelled marijuana coming from it. That was probable cause. The search of defendant’s person was with probable cause, too, and was justifiable as a search incident. United States v. Reed, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107876 (N.D. Ala. June 27, 2019).*