WARRANTLESS DRUG SEARCH UNCONSTITUTIONAL, SUPREME COURT SAYS

CHEYENNE -- Drugs found in a Cheyenne man's trailer should not have
been admitted as evidence at his trial because the warrantless search
was unconstitutional, the Wyoming Supreme Court has ruled.

The court opinion, released late Friday, reversed the conviction of
Jeremy Fenton, who had entered a conditional plea of guilty to
possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver.

The condition preserved his right to appeal a ruling by Laramie
County District Court Judge Peter Arnold denying his motion to
suppress evidence found and statements made during a search of his home.

The Supreme Court, in an opinion written by Justice William Hill,
said the state failed to prove the search that disclosed the evidence
which was the basis for the charge against Benton was reasonable
under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Wyoming
Constitution.

Hill's opinion quoted the amendment that protects citizens against
unreasonable searches and seizures and case law because we wish
to make clear that the issue presented in a case such as this is one
of the most important known to Anglo-American jurisprudence.

On February 9, 2005, two Laramie County deputy sheriffs went to Lisa
Brown's trailer home to talk to her and Jeremy Fenton about a stolen car.

Brown answered the door and let the deputies into her trailer. Fenton
also was at the residence.

One of the deputies saw in plain view sitting on top of stereo
speakers in the living room a small plastic baggie containing
marijuana and marijuana residue on a piece of paper.

The other deputy found a paper that had burnt and unburnt marijuana
laying on a shelf of the coffee table in the living room.

They collected the paper and baggie as evidence and then searched the
rest of the trailer. They found a small locked security box in
another part of the house. A third deputy who came to help found the
key to the box on a key chain belonging to Brown and Fenton.

Inside the box was Fenton's wallet, Social Security card, more than
$1,000 in cash, a quantity of methamphetamine, a glass pipe, small
scale and baggies.

Fenton said the cash was rent money and the other items did not belong to him.

The state claimed the search was reasonable because Fenton was on
probation for a previous methamphetamine conviction.

But the Supreme Court said the deputies didn't know that and Fenton's
probation had nothing to do with the warrantless search.

Fenton did not challenge the admission of the marijuana as evidence,
only the items in the locked box.

During oral arguments, the state conceded that Fenton and Brown had
objected to the further search of their home, the opinion said.