Arson Charges

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Califronia

Hello everyone,
Im an international student from Sweden.
I have a very complicated project I need to accomplish by this wednesday.
I just need some directions toward what laws apply and so. I really appriciate all answers, and please for the most efficient way , email your answers to nimaeil@hotmail.com . Once again, thank you!
This is the case :
Facts: At 11:00 p.m. the Santa Barbara County Fire Department extinguished a small hay fire in a barn. At 11:15 p.m. sheriff Carr walked through the barn and detected the odor of gasoline. At 11:45 on his way back to the office, Carr stopped a speeding truck on a nearby road, driven by David. Carr observed that while cruising to a stop, David bent down twice toward the floor. Carr walked to the truck and ordered David to get out. David complied and closed the car door behind him. Carr then wrote a traffic ticket, handed it to David, and told David he could go. As David reopened the truck door, Carr saw a red gasoline can on the floor. Carr thereupon arrested David. Transporting gasoline in a vehicle’s interior is a misdemeanor. Carr promptly read David the Miranda warning, and asked if he would waive his rights. David shrugged his shoulders. Carr then commented: “I guess some people don’t know much about setting a good fire.” David responded: “I didn’t try to burn the barn.” Carr seized the can, told David he was a suspect in an arson investigation and removed him to the jail. Later, authorities learned that David owned the barn, but that he had leased the barn to a tenant. At trial, David asserts that all of the evidence obtained should be excluded because the search of the barn was illegal, the arrest was invalid, and his statement was made in violation of his rights.

I respectfully recommend that you do your own homework.

Your professors would certainly appreciate it.

the evidence is circumstantial at best.

Dear Doqmatique,
Thanks for your reply.
We are allowed to use outside sources.
However, I just need some guidlines about if the officer is doing the right thing by searching the barn from the first time without a search warrant and if he is allowed to search the car without the owners permission.
Nima

Fires do not just randomly start in hay barns. If they did, there would not be any left. He did not search the car without the owners permission for the same reason. That is all I will say. It is in deference to your being a foreign student.

I think you missed my point, Nima.

This site is intended to provide assistance to people with genuine legal problems. We're not here to do your homework.

There are sources elsewhere for that - have you checked Westlaw? Lexis?

I'll start ... you look up the reasons why ... the officer's presence in the barn was likely lawful assuming the fire department was still on scene investigating the fire. And the statement by the suspect should be admissible.

Thank you.. it makes it easier for me!

Keep in mind that courts are rarely so cut and dry as to be so simple. While the arguments for the search and the admission can be easily made in my mind, I can also fathom arguments against their admission ... though likely unsuccessful, they are still possible.