Police often seize drugs, weapons, and other contraband that’s in plain view from where they are positioned.
According to the Supreme Judicial Court, illicit items in plain view may be seized if
- police are lawfully in a position from which they view an object,
- its incriminating character is immediately apparent, and
- the officers have a lawful right of access to the object,
See Commonwealth v. Santana, 420 Mass. 205, 211 (1995)
An officer has the right to be where he is so long as his presence does not violate the defendant’s Fourth Amendment Rights. As stated by the SJC,
The police are lawfully in a position from which they view an object if they did not violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution in arriving there…All that was required to justify the presence of the police in the defendant’s home was a valid search warrant. An executing officer has a lawful right of access to the object seized if the terms of the warrant entitle him to search where the object is found.
Commonwealth v. D’Amour, 428 Mass. 725, 731 (1999).