Courts find more than sight involved in plain-view doctrine

Prosecution and Procedure

By David J. Robinson

David J. Robinson is a lawyer, adjunct professor, author and chief deputy director for the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor.

Posted February 20, 2019 3:42 PM

Practitioners and judges are acutely aware of the applicability of the “plain-view doctrine” to Fourth Amendment questions. Further, they are quite astute at recognizing it when they see it.However, because, as lawyers — practitioners and judges alike — we have an insatiable appetite to over analysis, we tend to too narrowly apply the facts of cases that involve the broader concept of the plain-view doctrine.It bears reminding that the Fourth Amendment limits law enforcement from engaging in …

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