Texas Police Can Get Search Warrants Based on the ‘Prediction of a Future Crime,’ Judge Notes
An appeals court in Texas ruled last week that police may obtain a search warrant based on the prediction of a future crime.
Officers in Parker County took Michael Fred Wehrenberg and some associates into custody in summer 2010, after watching his home for about a month as part of a drug investigation.
A confidential informant told police that Wehrenberg and others were “fixing to” cook methamphetamine, and investigators searched the house while he and his friends stood outside in handcuffs.
Police said they found pseudoephedrine, stripped lithium batteries and materials used to make meth and then asked a judge to grant them a warrant to search the house.
They did not mention in the warrant application that officers had already gone into the house, and instead only based their request on information supplied by the confidential
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