INTRODUCTION

On January 21, 1964, the frozen body of 14-year-old Pamela Mason was discovered in a snowdrift beside an interstate highway a few miles from her home in Manchester, New Hampshire. She had been missing since the evening of January 13 when she left her house in response to a phone call from a man who had said he wanted to hire her as a babysitter. Edward Coolidge was subsequently arrested and in 1965 was tried and convicted of murdering Pamela Mason.

On June 21, 1971, in Coolidge v. New Hampshire, the Supreme Court of the United States reversed his conviction. It did not do so because of any doubt about his guilt—the proof of which was overwhelming—but because some of the evidence against Coolidge was obtained as a result of a search which the Court’s majority decided had been made in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution: 
 

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."