Wash. high court: Warrant in pot bust no goodThat's gotta hurt... Posted by DaveH at April 27, 2012 4:30 PM
The Washington Supreme Court says evidence of marijuana and hallucinogenic mushrooms found on a Yakima man's property can't be used to prosecute him.
The justices ruled unanimously Thursday that the search warrant police used to raid his property was invalid. The reason? The officer who obtained the warrant wrote that within the previous 48 hours, he received a tip from an informant aware of a marijuana grow on the property of Patrick Jimi Lyons - but the officer's affidavit didn't say when the informant observed the marijuana.
Justice Charles Wiggins wrote for the court that warrants must give a timely reason for police to conduct a search, and details of when the officer received the tip didn't meet that standard.
Police who searched Lyons' property found more than 200 mature marijuana plants as well as hallucinogenic mushrooms.