United States v. Burton (894 F.2d 188 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 857 (1990)) is a United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts in the following districts:* Eastern District of Kentucky* Western District of Kentucky...

 court decision relating to the open fields doctrine

Open fields doctrine

The open fields doctrine is a U.S. legal doctrine created judicially for purposes of evaluating claims of an unreasonable search by the government in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S...

 limiting the scope of the Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...

 of the U.S. Constitution.

Acting on information that the defendant

Defendant

A defendant or defender is any party who is required to answer the complaint of a plaintiff or pursuer in a civil lawsuit before a court, or any party who has been formally charged or accused of violating a criminal statute...

 was cultivating marijuana

Cannabis (drug)

Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...

, two members of the Kentucky State Police

Kentucky State Police

The Kentucky State Police is a department of the Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet. The department was founded in 1948 and replaced the Kentucky Highway Patrol...

, without a search warrant

Search warrant

A search warrant is a court order issued by a Magistrate, judge or Supreme Court Official that authorizes law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person or location for evidence of a crime and to confiscate evidence if it is found....

, entered on to the defendant’s farm. In order to enter the property the two officers climbed over two series of fences which had "No Trespassing" signs posted all around them.

Upon discovering large quantities of marijuana being grown, the defendant was arrested and charged with four drug related counts. The defendant was convicted of a lesser included offense, of which he appealed challenging that his Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. The Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, stating that the case was too factually similar to the Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

’s ruling in Oliver v. United States

Oliver v. United States

Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170 , is a United States Supreme Court decision relating to the open fields doctrine limiting the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution....

to justify exclusion of the evidence. The Court of Appeals stated:

"The only difference between the cases is that here the police climbed over a fence and a locked gate, whereas in Oliver, the officers went around a locked gate. Given the cited language from Oliver it is evident that this distinction is not of constitutional significance. The same is true of Burton's claim that the police entry onto his land constituted a trespass under Kentucky State law. The Supreme Court, in Oliver, addressed this issue, in the identical context of Kentucky law, observing in the case of open fields, the general rights of property protected by the common law of trespass have little or no relevance to the applicability of the Fourth Amendment. Id at 191."