The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to use the case of a man convicted of growing marijuana to decide whether the police need a search warrant to use a device that detects heat coming from someone's home. The court said it would hear an Oregon man's argument that the use of a heat-detecting device without a search warrant violated the constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.
Danny Lee Kyllo was arrested in January 1992 and charged with growing marijuana at his home.
The police said they had used a thermal imaging device and detected an unusual amount of heat coming from the roof over the garage and from one wall. Officers then got a warrant and searched his home, finding marijuana plants, growing equipment and dried marijuana.
Mr. Kyllo contended the marijuana plants should not be used as evidence against him, saying the police could not use the heat-detecting device without a warrant.
A federal judge ruled against him, and Mr. Kyllo pleaded guilty on condition that he could appeal the search issue. He was sentenced to one month in jail.
After an initial ruling in his favor, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the use of the device, saying it did not amount to a search.
In the appeal that was granted a review Tuesday, Mr. Kyllo's lawyer said the case ''raises the fundamental question of whether the Fourth Amendment's guarantee of personal security in one's home must yield to scientific advances that render our traditional barriers of privacy obsolete.''