CA11: Govt. persuades court that significant sales from premises was exigency

Sole exigency here was that cocaine was being cooked up in defendant’s house and sold (thus “removed”) quickly, and that was sufficient to overcome not getting a search warrant before the entry. United States v. Walker, 390 Fed. Appx. 854 (11th Cir. 2010)*:

Walker argues that the government failed to establish an objective basis supporting the detectives’ fear that the evidence would quickly be sold. However, the district court credited the detectives’ combined training and experience, together with their personal experience buying crack from Walker’s home, and found that the detectives had a sufficient, objective basis for believing that the drugs would likely be removed from the home before they could obtain a search warrant. This finding was not clearly erroneous. Reid requires nothing more, since “[t]he test for whether or not exigent circumstances exist is whether the facts would lead a reasonable, experienced agent to believe that evidence might be destroyed or removed before a warrant could be secured.” Reid, 69 F.3d at 1113.

Defendant’s stop for a traffic offense led to seeing she wore no seatbelt and had an unrestrained child. A joint was seen, and that was probable cause for more of a search. United States v. Smith, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76423 (E.D. Ky. July 28, 2010).*

Knock-and-announce at defendant’s house was not required under the “useless gesture” exception since defendant was in custody and nobody was home. United States v. May, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76266 (S.D. Ala. July 26, 2010).*