Florida V Riley Case Brief Essay Example for Free

Florida V Riley Case Brief renderLegal Citation 488 U. S. 445, 109 S. Ct. 693, 102 L. Ed. 2d. 835 (1989) Procedural History The respondent, Michael A. Riley, was charged with possession of marijuana low Florida law. The trail court granted his motion to suppress the Court of Appeals reversed but certified the case to the Florida Supreme Court, which jilted the decision of the Court of Appeals and reinstated the trail courts suppression order.The Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari for Florida to review the decision of the Supreme Court of Florida. Question Is surveillance of the interior of the partially c everywhereed greenhouse in a residential backyard from a vantage point of a eggbeater located cd feet above the greenhouse constitutes as a search, for which a warrant is required under the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 12 of Florida Constitution?Facts In this case, the Pasco County Sheriffs office received an unidentified tip that marijuana was being g rown on the respondents property. When the investigating officer spy that he was non able to see the contents of the green house by the road. All he was able to see was a wire fence surrounding the mobile home and the greenhouse with a DO NOT ENTER sign posted on the property. He then circled twice over the respondents property in a helicopter at the height of 400 feet.With his naked as a jaybird eye, he was able to see through the openings in the roof, since there had been two missing panels, and identify what he thought was marijuana growing in the structure. A warrant was later obtained based on these observations, inveterate the search revealed marijuana growing in the greenhouse. Which lead, the respondent, Michael A. Riley, to be charged with possession of marijuana under the Florida law. decisiveness No.The surveillance of the interior of the partially covered greenhouse in a residential backyard from a vantage point of a helicopter located 400 feet above the greenhouse d oes not constitutes as a search for which a warrant is required under the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 12 of Florida Constitution because helicopters are not bound by the lower limits of navigable airspace allowed to other aircrafts. both member of the public could have legally have been flying over Rileys property in a helicopter at the altitude of 400 feet and could have observed Rileys greenhouse.Nothing implied that the helicopter interfered with respondents normal use of the greenhouse or the other parts of the curtilage. Therefore, the police did not violate his Fourth Amendment, right to privacy. Judgment Reversed Principle of Law The reason the court taciturn the decision of the Supreme Court of Florida is because there is nothing in the records that suggest the helicopters flying at 400 feet are sufficiently rare in this country to lead substance to respondents claim that he jolly anticipated that his greenhouse would not be subject to observation from that alti tude.