People v. Pressey

In People v. Pressey (2002) 102 Cal.App.4th 1178, the appellate court held that probable cause a person uses illegal drugs does not automatically provide probable cause for a warrant to search the person's home for those drugs. (People v. Pressey, supra, 102 Cal.App.4th at p. 1181.) The magistrate had found probable cause to search Pressey's home for drugs and paraphernalia based on defendant's arrest during a traffic stop for possession of a controlled substance and an officer's opinion that drug users with controlled substances on their person or in their car are likely to have more of those substances where they live. (Id. at pp. 1181-1182.) In reversing, the appellate court explained: "This does not mean that probable cause to search a home could never arise from the particularized suspicions of an experienced narcotics officer, or the circumstances of an arrest for drug possession, only that illegal drug use does not necessarily provide probable cause to search the user's residence, and that such cases must be decided on their own facts." (Pressey at p. 1190.)