HILLSBOROUGH — In what led to a marijuana possession charge against a Hillsborough woman, township police may have improperly searched her home without a warrant in December 2009, according to an appellate decision released today.

Laura Tepper, 62, has argued that the drug evidence should not be used against her because she said the search was unconstitutional. A Superior Court judge denied her bid to suppress the evidence and ruled that the search was valid.

But appellate judges have ordered the matter to the lower court to re-evaluate in light of a recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision dealing with the warrantless search of a home.

The Superior Court judge said the search was valid under the “community caretaking doctrine,” the appellate decision states. The judge said police entered the house to “’detect intruders, protect the community[,] and investigate as to whether a burglary had occurred in the premises,’” the decision states.

But after that ruling, the Supreme Court issued a March decision stating that the community caretaking doctrine does not justify a warrantless search. A warrantless search requires an “objectively reasonable emergency, ” according to that decision.

After her suppression motion was denied, Tepper pleaded guilty and was sentenced in March 2012 to a year of probation. If the evidence is ultimately suppressed, the drug charge would likely be dismissed and her previous conviction would be eliminated, said her attorney, James Wronko.

Township police visited Tepper’s Sheppard Street residence in regard to a complaint about another woman failing to stop for a school bus and then later entering the house, according to the appellate decision. After no one answered the front door, a police officer found a rear door ajar, the decision states.

The open door was similar to residential burglaries in the township, the officer later testified. After entering the house, where no one was home, police later found marijuana, the decision states.

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