ID: search warrants required, even in Clearwater County

A good slice of north central Idaho life, and a law school classmate of mine mentioned, too - from the Lewiston Morning Tribune by way of the Seattle P-I:

Charges dropped in north Idaho backwoods vandalism case

Charges have been dropped in a backcountry vandalism, burglary and theft case that authorities thought they had cracked by installing a homing device in a coffee can. Clearwater County sheriff's deputies failed to obtain a search warrant before seizing evidence to support 19 felony and 14 misdemeanor charges of burglary, theft and vandalism against David Pruss... Pruss, 35, whose trial had been set for next Monday, immediately left on a bus to rejoin his family in Tacoma, Wash., defense lawyer John R. "Jack" Hathaway said.

"I'm out. I'm free. I don't want to talk to anybody," Pruss told the Lewiston Tribune by cellular telephone. Facing a maximum prison term of more than 100 years, Pruss underwent a psychological evaluation during more than a year in custody and "he's on his meds, he's coherent, he's happy," Hathaway said...

...(I)nvestigators had been trying to catch Pruss for weeks and learned where he was hiding by placing an electronic signaling device in the bottom of a plastic can of coffee and left (sic) it in a building that had been burglarized several times. "We knew he liked coffee," the sheriff said...