by TChris

Here's a warning for those of you who don't live alone: try not to do so much laundry, and make sure that everyone in your household doesn't take a hot shower on the same day. Not only will you save money on your electric bill, you may save yourself from having your door kicked in by the police.

Dina Dagy's family learned that lesson after the police and their drug-sniffing dog searched the Dagys' Carlsbad, California home. They were armed with a warrant that they obtained on the strength of the Dagys' $250 to $300 monthly electric bill, which the police deemed suspiciously high. Suburban families that use a lot of electricity, the police reasoned, must be growing marijuana in their basements.

Or not.

What they found when they showed up ... was a wife and mother who does several loads of laundry a day, keeps a dishwashing machine going, has three electricity-guzzling computers and three kids who can't remember to turn the lights out when they leave a room.

Dagy finds it hard to believe that a high utility bill would be enough reason to issue a search warrant. She's right. But police say that they followed standard procedures. In addition to noticing the high bill, they sent the drug dog to sniff around the house, and they viewed the dog's reaction as evidence that marijuana was being grown inside. So much for the reliability of drug dogs, or of the humans who interpret their responses.

They also noticed the family had put its trash out that morning, something police say drug growers often do to hide the evidence. In the Dagys' case, however, it was trash day.

If taking out the trash on trash day doesn't prove guilt, what more evidence could the police possibly need?

While the police should be faulted for invading the Dagys' privacy on the basis of such flimsy evidence, the judge who disregarded the Fourth Amendment by issuing the warrant also deserves a share of the blame. Judges swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. That didn't happen here.