Commonwealth v. Tatum

Armed with three active arrest warrants for the defendant, a State police officer applied for and obtained a search warrant to search for him in someone else’s residence. When the police executed the warrant, they found and airested the defendant inside the residence, but in doing so, they also observed in plain view what they believed to be cocaine, marijuana, and other items consistent with drug distribution. Based on this evidence, which was seized during a subsequent *46search of the residence pursuant to a second search warrant, the defendant was indicted and tried in the Superior Court on…