Case 11.1 Janet is a successful Colorado entrepreneur and ha…
Case 11.1 Janet is a successful Colorado entrepreneur and has recently decided to open a recreational marijuana sales business in Denver, “High and Mighty.” The state and county require operators of such businesses to acquire a license, hold a public meeting coordinated with the local and state license board, and other special procedures for this new and highly regulated enterprise. One holiday weekend, Detective Jones stops in and informs Janet that he is conducting a surprise inspection of the business to determine if Janet is complying with state record-keeping laws and other rules ensuring that minors are not being permitted to purchase the recreational marijuana. Janet has never been the subject of such a search and is concerned the detective’s presence will scare away customers. There are 20 customers in line, waiting to purchase recreational marijuana. Detective Jones enters the store over Janet’s objection and despite her request that he produce a search warrant. He enters her office and reviews her paperwork relevant to state record-keeping laws. He notes several irregularities and documents them. When Detective Jones returns to the sales area, he finds that Janet and her staff have continued to serve customers while he was in the office. Detective Jones checks the ID of several people who have made purchases and finds that two of them are under age under state law to purchase marijuana. While Detective Jones is checking IDs, one of the patrons (Bobby) waiting to buy marijuana says, “Man, I can’t believe this guy is giving us such a hard time. What a bummer!” Detective Jones directs this man to empty his pockets on a nearby table and finds he has cocaine. Detective Jones arrests Bobby for possession of cocaine, cites Janet for violating state law for poor record-keeping and charges her with providing marijuana to underage patrons.Did the search of Janet’s business records meet the three requirements for authorizing inspections without search warrants of closely regulated businesses as established by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York v Burger?