COURT UPHOLDS POLICE WHO FOUND POT PLANTS

Madison - Police were justified in entering a home where they found a
marijuana-growing operation after noticing a suspiciously broken window,
the state appeals court ruled Tuesday.

The 1st District Court of Appeals ruled the police officers' duty to
protect residents gave them ample reason to enter the residence, and the
marijuana should be admissible as evidence in the drug case against the
home's occupants.

The case arose after two police officers investigated a report of someone
breaking a window at a Milwaukee home, according to the court ruling.
Although they did not have a warrant, the officers entered the home through
an open window and searched the home to see if anyone was hiding there.

During their search, the police found marijuana plants but did not see
anyone in or around the home. The home's occupants, Dennis Lee Londo and
Richard John Vernon, were later arrested for manufacturing marijuana, but
they petitioned the circuit court to suppress as evidence the drug plants
found at the home.