State v. Wright, A-4813-10T1; Appellate Division; opinion by Sabatino, J.A.D.; decided and approved for publication July 25, 2013. On appeal from the Law Division, Monmouth County, Indictment No. 09-11-2230. [Sat below: Judge Reisner.] DDS No. 14-2-0787 [52 pp.]
This appeal concerns the “third-party intervention” doctrine, often referred to as the “private search” doctrine, an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. In certain instances, New Jersey courts and various other jurisdictions have applied the doctrine to authorize the police to inspect or search a defendant’s property without a warrant, so long as the police do not exceed the scope of the private actor’s intrusion that led to the police’s involvement.
