Earlier this year GRL convinced the Iowa Supreme Court to outlaw the police tactic of warrantless garbage searches in State v. Wright.
We haven’t rested on our laurels since the ruling. Instead, we got to work in several counties where these trash rips resulted in felony charges.
A recent case in southeastern Iowa was no exception. The facts were essentially identical to Wright. Police illegally trespassed onto our client’s garbage containers set out for collection to scavenge trash. A search of this trash led to a search warrant to search our client’s home resulting in two drug felony charges.
However, if you remove the information obtained by the illegal searches, then there is no probable cause to support the warrant. No PC . . . no search.
The State properly dismissed the charges before the suppression hearing. That’s another NFG! Three for three so far.
If you are facing drug charges following a trash rip, then call the drug defense attorneys who pioneered this approach.
