NH Supreme Court: Search Warrant Unneeded In Drug Arrest
July 23, 2009
Associated Press
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court says police didn't need a search warrant when they found marijuana plants growing in a field in Nottingham.
Shawn Johnson was charged last year with manufacturing a controlled drug after police spotted the plants while flying over his property in a helicopter. Officers then walked through the woods to a field behind his house and seized the plants.
Johnson argued that police violated his right to privacy, but the state Supreme Court says in this case, the property around the home did not have the same protection against unreasonable searches as the home itself.
In a ruling Thursday, the court denied Johnson's request to ban the results of the search from his trial. | 
