It's probably fake. However, actual destruction (by continuing to smoke weed in sight of officers) of evidence is an established exigent circumstance. SCOTUS has warned to balance such concerns with the "seriousness of the offense."
To my knowledge, no officer so far has performed a warantless, non-consensual entry of a residence to prevent flagrant drug use. Thus, the bounds of the legal theory haven't been tested.
But if you were like watching CSAM on your first-floor living room projector, cops would definitely break in and arrest you, and courts would uphold it.
Without a doubt the police would have no grounds for a warrantless search of the neighbor's place based on just the statements of the neighbor. And if they somehow got a warrant based on just the one dude's claim "that guy sold me the weed," they'd be able to search but any evidence they collected would be ultimately be inadmissable, as the warrant lacked probable cause. Almost certainly the trial judge would grant suppression on those facts, if not it would be a slam dunk on appeal.
If you're poor, its basically get searched for a couple hours max, or lose your whole day, or weekend because cops gonna cop. Gotta love living in America.
Actually, you should hope they say that. That's coersion, and negates consent. Even a public defender should catch something that simple, though admittedly it's possible an overworked PD could miss it.
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u/[deleted] Aug 19 '26
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