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Sheriff's deputies first entered petitioner's house on
March 6, 1995. A female member of petitioner's household had
called 911, then hung up without identifying herself. The
deputies who responded to the call found indications that someone
might be inside, but they were unable to contact anyone by
telephone. They secured from a local judicial officer by
telephone a search warrant that empowered them to go into the
house and check on the welfare of whoever might be inside.
No one was home when the deputies entered petitioner's house
for the first time. While checking the house to make sure no one
was in danger, the deputies saw and seized a number of suspicious
items including apparatus for growing marijuana indoors, a gun,
and some explosives. The evidence seized and the officers'
personal observations of the premises strongly suggested that
petitioner's house had been used at some time to raise commercial
quantities of marijuana.
On February 22, 1996, members of a local drug task force,
including some officers who had been present at the time of the
first entry, returned to petitioner's house. On this occasion,
the deputies were there to execute a warrant for petitioner's
arrest, based on narcotic charges related to the first search of
petitioner's house.
When the deputies entered petitioner's home to arrest him,
they had reason to believe more than one person might be present.
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