Human Resource Selection 9th Edition by Marianne Jennings

Exercise 1

In 1991, Agent William Elliott of the United States Department of the Interior came to suspect that marijuana was being grown in a home belonging to Danny Kyllo, part of a triplex on Rhododendron Drive in Florence, Oregon. Indoor marijuana growth typically requires high-intensity lamps. In order to determine whether an amount of heat was emanating from the petitioner's home consistent with the use of such lamps, at 3:20 a.m. on January 16, 1992, Agents Elliott and Dan Haas used an Agema Thermovision 210 thermal imager to scan the triplex. Thermal imagers detect infrared radiation, which virtually all objects emit but which is not visible to the naked eye. The imager converts radiation into images based on relative warmth-black is cool, white is hot, shades of gray connote relative differences; in that respect, it operates somewhat like a video camera showing heat images. The scan of Mr. Kyllo's home took only a few minutes and was performed from the passenger seat of Agent Elliott's vehicle across the street from the front of the house, and also from the street in back of the house. The scan showed that the roof over the garage and a side wall of Mr. Kyllo's home were relatively hot compared to the rest of the home and substantially warmer than neighboring homes in the triplex. Agent Elliott concluded that Mr. Kyllo was using halide lights to grow marijuana in his house, which indeed he was. Based on tips from informants, utility bills, and the thermal imaging, a federal magistrate judge issued a warrant authorizing a search of Mr. Kyllo's home, and the agents found an indoor growing operation involving more than 100 plants. Mr. Kyllo was indicted on one count of manufacturing marijuana. Mr. Kyllo unsuccessfully moved to suppress the evidence seized from his home and then entered a conditional guilty plea. Should the evidence be suppressed? [ Kyllo v U.S., 533 U.S. 27 (2001)]