Defendant lived in an apartment in a public housing complex, and the police came allegedly to investigate the possession of a dog without having paid a pet deposit. The police came in, saw the dog, and allegedly noticed ammunition in the kitchen in plain view. Suspecting that the ammunition might be related to a recent homicide, they called in but found that ammunition was not the same caliber. The finding of ammunition led them to asking about a gun, which defendant at first denied, then they found one in a mattress box springs. Defendant was charged with being a felon in possession. The dog complaint was found to be a pretext for the entry to investigate defendant\u2019s alleged connection to a murder, and the consent was not valid because defendant would not have been free to leave. The officers did nothing to investigate the dog complaint. United States v. Joshua, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99676 (M.D. La. September 6, 2011):<\/p>\n
The Court also received conflicting testimony from the officers and Ms. Davis as to the length of the time that the officers remained in Ms. Davis’ apartment. Officer Taylor estimated that the total length of encounter was 20 to 25 minutes. Similarly, Corporal Freeman estimated the time period as ranging from 15 to 20 minutes. Ms. Davis, however, testified that the officers remained at the apartment for 45 minutes to an hour. Regardless of the actual length of the time that the police remained in the apartment, on cross-examination, Lieutenant Lee testified that the length of time that the officers spent in speaking to Ms. Davis about the dog was much shorter than the period of time that they questioned the defendant about the ammunition and the possible presence of a gun. The incommensurate amount of time which the police spent addressing the matter for which they were allegedly dispatched leads the Court to conclude that the pet deposit investigation was merely a pretext for the more serious search for evidence of a homicide.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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