Drug Bust Turns into DVD Bust

[Audioholics]

<A href="http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/OregondrugbustDVDbust.php"><IMG style="WIDTH: 125px; HEIGHT: 91px" alt=[floppy2] hspace=10 src="http://www.audioholics.com/news/thumbs/floppy2_th.jpg" align=left border=0></A>According to a Oregon's KPTV (a Fox Affiliate news agency), Deputies thought they were working a drug bust, but instead of a stash of drugs, they say they found a stash of stolen movies. Randon Chaney could face federal charges after Multnomah County deputies say they found thousands and thousands of pirated DVDs in his Northeast Portland home. Randy claimed that due to increasing oil prices he was smelting down the discs for use as fuel in his vehicle (OK, I made that last part up). If you want the skinny... read on.

[Read the Article]

 

[3x10^8]

I'm no lawyer, but I believe that mention of the illegal DVD's must be made in the warrant. Otherwise, good luck prosecuting, as that evidence will likely be thrown out .

 

[akebono]

I'm no lawyer, but I believe that mention of the illegal DVD's must be made in the warrant. Otherwise, good luck prosecuting, as that evidence will likely be thrown out .

I'm no lawyer either, but if police find evidence of another crime, while executing a search warrant, I doubt that evidence would automatically be thrown out...

I do know for sure that most, if not all states have a 'plain view' law, which means if the police come into your house and you are in possesion of contraband in their view, they do not need a warrant to charge you...

 

[Johnd]

That's right. I'm no lawyer either, but if anything illegal is found in the course of executing a search warrant, as long as it remains a legal search (within the scope of the warrant), it stays in!

 

[Audioholics]

Well, I'm no lawyer either... Actually, that's all I wanted to say.

 

[shadow]

Well I am a lawyer and the evidence is admissible

 

[Johnd]

shadow: Let me repeat, I am not a lawyer. You're a lawyer named shadow. Hmmmmm...Sounds suspicious.

 

[mulester7]

.....(only the shadow knows).....

 

[sjdgpt]

I'm no lawyer, but I believe that mention of the illegal DVD's must be made in the warrant. Otherwise, good luck prosecuting, as that evidence will likely be thrown out .

Not a lawyer, but logic should prevail in this situation.

What if, instead of illegal DVD's, the Deputies had found the remains of murdered person? Oops, sorry, can't prosecute because we didn't know you were harboring your dead neighbor?

The Supreme Stupids have limited police powers, but to the best of my knowledge plain view and accidental discover have not been eliminated.

 

[ebrius]

I am also not a lawyer (or maybe I am), but I'm pretty sure if the DVD's where in plain sight that there fine, if they searched somewhere that wasn't specified on the warrant, then I'm pretty sure they'll get thrown out.

 

[Pyrrho]

(in the article not in this thread)...

While it's easy to make light humor of the event, this is yet again a reminder of the reason the MPAA and RIAA have their leotards in a bunch over piracy and digital rights management (DRM) issues. Let's just hope that they apply actual resources to the distributers of these pirated products rather than the consumers (their current focus.) We all know it's far easier to bully consumers around, but the harder work will be much more productive in the long run.

Well, I think we know that they will do what is easier and be unable to deal with their real problems. And in so doing, they will get consumers very annoyed and less sympathetic to their real problems. After all, when people are screwing you over, you are not likely to mind if someone else is screwing them over.

 

[Naves74]

Alot of people I know copy DVDs it is just way to easy. All this fuss over copyright protection is a joke. I recently obtained a DVD burner and was amazed how easy it was to copy a DVD. I personally dont copy them becuase I think it is wrong I just got a burner so I could make demo discs. But I can go to many of my friends houses and there are thousands of copied DVDs laying around everywhere. I guess a big part of that is I am still in college and college students are poor and shameless.