Lt. Chris Collins (Ret.)
Thompson v. Louisiana 1984
There is no such thing as a “murder exception” to the 4th amendment, so Crime Scene Investigators are leery at best when we discuss Thompson v. Louisiana and what gives us the authority to take pictures and sketch a crime scene while we are waiting for the warrant. The article linked below discusses this in detail, however the basics of it are this: the emergency / exigency exceptions to a warrant say that we can lawfully enter a scene to search for victims / offenders when responding to calls for service when there is an emergency or exigency. While we are in there anything we see in plain view is fair game to note / seize (if part of the crime) etc. Once the exigency is over however, we must cease additional searching and obtain a warrant. But that does not mean we have to completely vacate the scene until the warrant arrives. Anything that was in plain view to us under the emergency circumstances does not suddenly become invisible while we wait. This is what allows us to photograph and sketch the crime scene without / while waiting for the warrant to arrive. Under NO circumstances may you touch, move, manipulate, open, close, or search for anything. DO NOT proceed to Step 6 (DIG) of processing until the warrant is issued. Failure to limit actions to sketching / photographing ONLY will result in the loss of anything additional uncovered before the warrant arrives.
See the links below for additional information.
