State v. Herbert

The only question the trial judge addressed in this case was whether the seizure of the paperfold was lawful. The judge concluded that it was not. Accordingly, he allowed defendant’s motion to suppress. I agree with the majority that the trial judge erred in that respect. The majority should have stopped there.

The judge was not asked to address, and he did not consider, whether the subsequent opening of the paperfold and the testing of its contents were lawful. Therefore, the majority is premature in addressing those issues. They should not be addressed by this court before they have been…