The government's case against
Leonel Vargas hit a big bump in the road. The federal judge handling the case just threw out
all evidence obtained by law enforcement without a warrant.
In United States v. Vargas local police in rural Washington suspected Vargas of drug trafficking. In April 2013, police installed a camera on top of a utility pole overlooking his home. Even though police did not have a warrant, they nonetheless pointed the camera at his front door and driveway and began watching every day. A month later, police observed Vargas shoot some beer bottles with a gun and because Vargas was an undocumented immigrant, they had probable cause to believe he was illegally possessing a firearm. They used the video surveillance to obtain a warrant to search his home, which uncovered drugs and guns, leading to a federal indictment against Vargas.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Edward Shea ruled that the "warrantless and constant covert video surveillance" ran up against the public's expectation of privacy. This was clearly a violation of the defendant's 4th Amendment rights. The government tried to argue that Vargas' front yard, since in public view, shouldn't have constitutional protections. Judge Shea disagreed.
It is an interesting case for our government and law enforcement since their usual defense of transparent civil liberty violations is that they don't have the time to get warrants when fighting terrorism (but mostly drugs). However, law enforcement had been recording Vargas' front yard for 6 weeks! It begs the question: why didn't they just get a warrant?