This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Elliott suspected that Kyllo (D) was growing marijuana indoors. Elliot and Haas then used a thermal imaging device to scan the triplex that D lived in. The scan took only a few minutes and was performed from the passenger seat of their car across the street from the front of the house and also from the street in the back of the house. The scan showed that the roof over the garage and a sidewall of D’s house was relatively hot compared to the rest of the triplex and home. Elliot concluded that D was using halide lights to grow marijuana. This was true. Based on a tip from an informant, utility bills, and thermal imaging, a Federal Magistrate Judge issued a warrant, and the agents found 100 plants. D moved to suppress the evidence and then entered a conditional guilty plea. The court refused, and the court of appeals affirmed.

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