can a charge hold up in court if the findings were obtained thru a search of house while only minor son present no war

Question

cops came to my house (initialy to talk about daughter being pulled over at 4 am with adult male) knocked on door didnt announce they were police, after ? me and my bf about said incident they were going to leave but they said they smelled a foul oder which they believed to be weed. i called my minor son to living room he told cops he was smoking earlier that morning they asked with what he said pipe they said where is it he said my room they said everyone outside we are getting a warrant to search house. while they waited for warnt they allowed me and bf to leave. only minor son was present when they searched the house. they found 2 guns drug paraphanila large amount of heroin. the paperwork they left at house isnt a search warrent. they never supplied one. they left alot of paraphanila behind. they eventualy arested my bf and are charging him with the findings in house. can they do that? can he be charged

William Jaksa · Answer

The very short answer is yes.  
 
There are certainly triable issues and grounds to argue that the search warrant should never have been issued. Were the police acting within their duties when they originally attended? Where they lawfully within the dwelling when they observations (smelled the weed)? Should they have cautioned everyone before asking questions about the foul smell? Where they truthful to the Judge when asking for the search warrant authorization? What statements/admissions did they obtain from people in the house?  
 
Basic principles of the plain view doctrine are that as long as police are lawfully in a place any observations they make can be used to form the grounds from for further investigations.

Q: can a charge hold up in court if the findings were obtained thru a search of house while only minor son present no war