Question
Detective Trace received a telephone call from an informant who had given reliable information to Trace on several prior occasions. The informant truthfully told Trace,
Detective Trace received a telephone call from an informant who had given reliable information to Trace on several prior occasions. The informant truthfully told Trace, "Doris is planning to sell stolen silicon chips to Vic and probably will deliver the chips to Vic within the next two weeks. Doris usually rents a room at the Savoy Hotel to use when she makes her sales." Trace immediately prepared! an affidavit detailing the informant's past reliability and quoting the informant's statement. On the basis of the affidavit, a magistrate issued a warrant authorizing a search for silicon chips in any Savoy Hotel room rented by Doris in the two weeks following the date of the affidavit.
One week after the warrant was issued, Trace learned from the hotel manager that Doris had rented a room at the Savoy Hotel. Armed with the warrant, Trace went to the hotel intending to search the room in Doris's absence. As he listened at the door to determine whether the room was occupied, however, he overheard Doris offering to sell silicon chips to Vic. He then heard the two arguing, the sounds of a struggle, a crash, and silence.
Trace knocked on the door and announced, "Police with a search warrant-open the door." He entered when Doris opened the door. Seeing Vic on the floor unconscious and apparently injured, Trace drew his gun and asked Doris, "What did you do to him?" Doris replied, "I pushed him and he hit his head against a table." Trace summoned an ambulance, but Vic died of head injuries before it arrived.
Doris has been charged with murder and attempting to sell stolen property, both of which are felonies. She moved to exclude testimony by Trace regarding his observations in the hotel room, all silicon chips found in the hotel room, Doris's statement to Vic that Trace had overheard, and Doris's statement to Trace after he entered the room, all on the ground that the evidence had been obtained in violation of Doris's Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. The trial court denied the motion.
Was the trial court correct in denying the motion? Discuss. [You are only required to address the Fourth Amendment.
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