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TN: State showed nexus between defendant, his street name, and the place to be searched

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Whether the defendant was identified by his street name of “Zee” with the place to be searched was necessary for nexus. Nexus essentially is proved by common sense. State v. Gleaves, 2010 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 672 (August 13, 2010)*: The justification for allowing the search of a drug dealer's home is that, under some circumstances, one may reasonably infer that a drug dealer is storing evidence of his drug activity in his home. Saine, 297 S.W.3d at 206. Both common sense and the information commonly set forth by police applying for drug-related search warrants support this idea. In fact, as the officer in this case advised, drug sellers "very often" hide evidence of their drug transactions in "locations which they control." In our view, therefore, one could reasonably infer that a drug dealer is storing drug-related material in a home he uses, though he may not formally reside in the home...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 20, 2010 (boomark / email).