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PA: Considering extrinsic evidence outside of "four corners rule" violates Fourth Amendment and state law

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The suppression court had the discretion to revisit the grant of the suppression order within thirty days, but it violated state law when it considered extrinsic evidence outside of the “four corners rule” to validate the search. Here, the unanswered question was where was a bag of trash: inside the garage or outside? The affidavit did not answer that. Commonwealth v. James, 2010 PA Super 203, 2010 Pa. Super. LEXIS 3816 (November 10, 2010): We find that the trial court violated the four corners rule by considering extrinsic evidence that was not contained in the affidavit of probable cause to determine the validity of the search warrant. Appellant was not challenging the trash pull itself, but rather the existence of probable cause on the face of the affidavit...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 15, 2010 (boomark / email).