Assume that you are the law clerk for a judge, and that the following case is before her. Your court is the Confusion Court of Appeals, which is located in the state of Confusion, our 51st state.

People v. Stoner, Docket number 01-9513

Steve Stoner is appealing his conviction for manufacturing marijuana, caliming that the evidence was sezied in violation of his fourth amendment rights and should have been suppressed.

On August 3, 2000, officers from the Dentalfloss County Sheriffs Department attempted to arrest Sally Speedy on several outstanding misdemeanor warrants (for DUI, malicious mischief, and resisting arrest). Speedy broke free from the officers and ran into some thick woods. Speedy's house was located adjacent to these woods on a winding gravel road; approximately 1500 feet farther down the road was the driveway to Stoner's house.

The officers called for back-up assistance, which arrived 15 minutes later. One of the officers felt that Speedy might be heading through the woods away from her house and in the direction of Stoner's house, so the officers drove their cars down the gravel road and onto Stoner's driveway. The driveway was blocked by a locked gate, and a six-foot fence extended from both sides of the gate, and around the entire front of the Stoner property. The gate and the fence were hung with "No Trespassing" signs.

The officers decided that to catch Speedy, half of the officers would need to enter Stoner's property and proceed into the woods towards Speedy's house, while the other officers would head into the woods from the direction of Speedy's house. Although the gate was locked, the officers managed to get the gate open anyway because the locking mechanism was loose. They continued to drive up the driveway and around the house. On the other side of the house they saw a small shed surrounded by a 4-foot chain link fence. The shed was about 40 yards from the house.

One officer knocked on the door to Stoner's house but nobody answered. The other officers began exploring the property to see if Speedy was there. One of the officers, Deputy Katt, climbed the fence surrounding the shed to see if Speedy might be hiding in the shed. As he approached the shed, he saw that it was padlocked shut. He also smelled what he knew from experience to be marijuana. Katt pulled on the door, and the latch gave way; inside the shed he found 200 marijuana plants. The officers abandoned their search for Speedy, who was never found. But when Stoner returned home a short while later, he was placed under arrest for manufacturing marijuana. He now claims that the actions of the Dentalfloss County Sheriffs deputies violated his fourth amendment rights.
 

PART ONE: Answer the following questions.
1. What words can be used to describe the parties, places, and things involved in this case?
2. What words could be used to describe the legal issues in this case?
3. What research leads are there?
PART TWO:
Assume that the judge has requested that you write a legal memorandum concerning this case. Describe in detail (and in order) exactly what steps you would take to research this case.
PART THREE:
Find one real case that you would consult when researching these issues. Give the citation for this case. Also, read the case carefully and brief it as you would for research. Hand in a copy of that brief.
HINT:
You will really be writing a memo for the case of People v. Stoner for your next assignment. Putting a lot of careful thought into assignment 4 will make assignment 5 much easier!