FACTS OF THE CASE
On September 5, 2014, an anonymous call was placed to the Virginia Beach Police Department.  The caller tells the police that there are drugs hidden on a 2002 Cruisers 3750 Express Motor Yacht currently docked in slip number 212 of the Tradewinds Marina.  The anonymous tipster also mentions that he saw a gun aboard the yacht.  The Tradewinds Marina is a local marina which provides short and long term docking to various kinds of boats.  Individuals renting slips at the Tradewinds may live aboard their boats and pay a fee to access utilities such as water, electricity, and cable in a manner similar to someone renting an apartment.  Slips may be rented on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.  In addition, these dockage fees include a free numbered parking space for an owner’s automobile.

Narcotics Detectives Jim Thomas and Ed Moore are dispatched to investigate the tip. They look online and find a picture of a Cruisers 3750 Express Motor Yacht in order to study its layout and shape.  When they arrive at the Tradewinds Marina, they park their vehicle in the parking lot facing the marina and attempt to corroborate the information provided by the anonymous caller.  They see that there is a boat docked at the marina which is named, ‘Smoker’s Paradise,’ and which looks similar to the picture they found online.  However, they are not able to see which slip number the boat is docked at from their vantage point in the parking lot.  Upon their arrival, they see a white male of approximately 35 years of age exit the interior of the boat and stand on the rear deck.  As the detectives watch, they witness another individual approach the yacht, speak to the man, board the yacht for a short period of time and rummage around in what appears to be a large storage locker on the back deck.  Following this, the individual leaves within a few minutes.  Upon leaving, they can see that this individual appears to place something in his pocket prior to walking away.

About 15 minutes later at approximately 3 pm, the detectives see a second person – this time, a woman with a large tote bag over her shoulder – arrive at the boat.  She waves to the man on the deck, speaks with him briefly and steps aboard.  The detectives then watch as she and the man rummage around in the same storage locker on the deck.  After a few moments, the man removes two folding lawn chairs from the locker.  The man hands one of the lawn chairs to the woman.  The couple then takes the chairs and steps back onto the dock.  The woman also carries her large tote bag that she brought aboard with her as she returns to the dock.  At this point, the couple opens their chairs, places them on the dock in the area closest to the yacht and sits down with the tote bag next to them.  The woman reaches into her tote bag and produces two bottles of beer which the couple proceeds to begin drinking.  A few minutes later, the police see a man approach the area of the dock where the couple is seated.

In order to get to the portion of the dock where the couple is seated, the approaching man, later identified as Keith Jones, must leave the main dock which leads to all of the boats and step onto a smaller dock which serves only the two boats docked in the slips on either side of the smaller dock.  At this moment, there is no second boat docked in the slip next to the yacht that the detectives believe to be the Cruisers 3750.  Only the suspect’s yacht is currently occupying this smaller dock where the couple is seated, a fact which allows the police to have the ability to see the couple.  In order to step onto this smaller dock adjacent to the Cruisers 3750, Keith Jones must move a piece of nautical rope that is stretched across the entrance to this dock.  The management of the Tradewinds Marina has placed these pieces of rope at the entrance to all of the individual dock areas as a makeshift gate.  On the rope, the management has placed a sign which reads, “Only owners, their guests, and marina personnel beyond this point.”  The police see Mr. Jones speak to the couple as he approaches them.  As he does so, he withdraws a small package from his jacket and hands it to the original male suspect.  The male suspect hands Keith Jones something in return, but the police cannot see what the item is.

At this point, the detectives decide to approach the suspects and ask them to answer a few questions.  They begin walking towards the boat slips and are halfway across the parking lot when they realize that they have never confirmed the slip number given to them by the anonymous caller.  Jim Thomas mentions this to his partner and asks whether or not his partner remembers the number.  The second detective, Ed Moore, says, “No, but we shouldn’t go back to get it.  That deal is going down now and I think they’re acting suspiciously.  This has got to be the boat mentioned in the tip.  And, anyway, it doesn’t matter because I want to see what was in that package.”

The detectives continue to approach the three suspects, who are now standing on the smaller dock in the area behind the rope and sign mentioned above.  As the detectives approach the three suspects, they identify themselves as detectives and ask to see some identification from the three.  The detectives remain on the main dock while making this request and do not go beyond the sign.  The three walk approximately 5 feet towards the officers and produce driver’s licenses.  These driver’s licenses identify the original male suspect as Sean Williams and the female suspect as Andrea Gibson.  After producing their identification, the three suspects seem hesitant to answer additional questions and remain on the smaller dock behind the sign.  When Detective Moore asks what was in the package that the three just exchanged, Sean Williams answers that he doesn’t know.  Detective Moore then asks if there are drugs on the boat or in their possession and the three reply that there are not.  Mr. Williams shakes his head and says, “I’m sorry, but I need to leave” and takes a step towards the detectives who are potentially blocking his exit via the main dock.  At this point, Detective Moore holds up his hand in a stop motion and says, “Sir, please stay where you are. I need to frisk you now.”  Mr. Williams shrugs and stops moving.  The detective then steps over the rope, past the sign, onto the smaller dock and begins to pat down the suspect.  After a full circuit of his body, the detective does not find a weapon.  Sean Williams says, “I told you I don’t have anything on me.” The detective then says, “We’ll see” and continues to pat him down. During this second frisk, a green packet falls to the ground from somewhere inside Sean Williams’ jacket.  Detective Thomas, who is still standing on the main dock, walks past the rope onto the smaller dock where the package is now lying and picks it up.  As he does so, he gets a closer look at the package and realizes that the green plastic is somewhat transparent.  He holds the package up to the light and sees what appears to be marijuana inside.  He then puts the package up to his nose and inhales.  Believing the package to contain contraband, Detective Thomas then alerts his partner to the contents of the package and seizes the package as evidence.  Detective Moore then places Sean Williams under arrest for possession of marijuana. Following the arrest, Detective Moore unzips and searches Ms. Gibson’s tote bag, which has remained sitting on the dock near the folding chairs.  Inside, he finds approximately $1500 in cash and a key to a safety deposit box.  He then seizes the bag, the cash and the key for evidence.

The detectives also then place the other two suspects under arrest, call for backup and put the handcuffed suspects in their police cruiser.  Following this, the detectives conduct a search of the yacht.  Eventually, the police open the storage locker mentioned above.  It is located on the deck of the yacht and it is unlocked.  Inside, they find various boating equipment and a smaller, locked box.  The police continue searching below deck and find a hook in the kitchen which holds several keys.  The police try each key in the lock until they find the one that opens the smaller, locked box.  Once it is open, it reveals a large amount of marijuana hidden inside, later determined to weigh over five pounds.  During the course of this search, however, the police realize that all of these events have actually taken place at slip 209 rather than slip 212 (the slip identified by the anonymous informant). Upon further inspection, they also realize that the yacht they have boarded is actually a later model called the Cruisers 4450.

About an hour after the arrests, the police identify the safety deposit box attached to the key found in Ms. Gibson’s tote bag.  The bank’s records reveal that the safety deposit box is leased jointly to both Andrea Gibson and Sean Williams.  After obtaining a warrant based on all of the evidence collected in the case so far, the police look inside the safety deposit box and find a ledger detailing six months of monetary transactions. Additionally, some officers stay at the marina to canvass for witnesses. One yacht owner mentions Andrea Gibson to the police. The witness tells police that she has often seen Ms. Gibson and Mr. Williams together on the boat and the surrounding docks, along with a steady stream of visitors. However, she can’t identify any of the visitors when shown photos by police.

The canvass also produces a second witness, named Jennifer Mason, who describes seeing what she believes was a drug transaction taking place on the yacht approximately one month prior to the arrests.  The witness describes seeing a white male exchange packages with a twenty-something female one Saturday night as the witness returned home following a night out with friends. Ms. Mason estimates that this occurred at approximately 1:30 a.m. The police officer interviewing Ms. Mason then shows her pictures of the three suspects already under arrest. Upon seeing the pictures, the witness tells the officer that Sean Williams looks similar to the man she remembers, but that his hair appears darker in the picture.  She doesn’t recall seeing the other suspects.  Jennifer Mason is then invited to view a lineup, which takes place the next afternoon. At the lineup, Mason selects Sean Williams as the male individual involved in the drug transaction she witnessed. She does not make a positive identification of the other two suspects.

All three suspects are charged with possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, a felony under section 18.2-248.1 of the Virginia code.  If found guilty, a defendant with more than five pounds of marijuana faces between five and thirty years in prison.  Before trial, Andrea Gibson and Keith Jones plead guilty and agree to testify against Sean Williams in exchange for sentence reductions.  However, Sean Williams maintains his innocence and does not accept a plea.  Rather, he is tried in the Virginia Beach Circuit Court.  The attorney for Sean Williams files motions to exclude the following evidence: 1) the marijuana contained in the green packet, 2) the $1500 cash, 3) the 5 pounds of marijuana found in the locked box aboard the yacht, 4) the ledger found in the safety deposit box, and 5) the eyewitness identification made by Jennifer Mason.  An evidentiary hearing is held at which the Jennifer Mason testifies that she is “100% positive” that Sean Williams was the man she saw selling drugs in the marina. The trial court rules in favor of the prosecution and allows all of the evidence to be presented at trial.

During the trial in March of 2015, Sean Williams testifies that he did not know Keith Jones personally.  Rather, he says that he recognized Keith as a friend of his brother, Ned Williams.  He also testifies that Keith approached him on September 5 while he was on the yacht.  According to Sean, Keith greeted him and then told him to “give this to your brother” and handed him a packet.  Sean says that he took the packet, but that he had no reason to be suspicious of its contents or of the contents of the smaller locked box on the boat (since it remained locked).  He testifies that he never looked inside the locked box aboard the yacht and certainly had never been aware that such a large quantity of marijuana was aboard the boat.

In fact, the police investigation following his arrest reveals that the yacht in question, the “Smoker’s Paradise” was not owned by Sean Williams, but rather was purchased by his brother, Ned Williams.  Ned Williams cannot be located by the police.  The investigation also revealed that Sean Williams’ last known address was an apartment in downtown Virginia Beach as listed on his driver’s license.  Despite this, the management of the building confirmed that Mr. Williams actually moved out of the apartment nearly four months before he was arrested.  At trial, Sean testified that since moving out of his apartment, he periodically spent the night on the boat rented by his brother.  While he did not sleep on the yacht on the night directly prior to his arrest, he testified that he had spent the entire day there, that he had taken a nap in the master stateroom that afternoon and had planned to sleep there that night.  The Cruisers 4450 Express Motor Yacht is a 44-foot yacht which comes fully equipped with both master and guest staterooms, a full kitchen and two bathrooms.  In fact, further police investigation reveals that the boat had been docked at that location for at least six months and, through the marina, was receiving connections to all utilities including power, water, and cable television.

Finally, Sean Williams also testifies that he has never seen the ledger found in the safety deposit box, which the prosecution argues contains a record of drug transactions.  Rather, he says that his friend, Andrea Gibson, had asked him to place the ledger in the safety deposit box for safekeeping while she moved to a new apartment.  According to Williams, Gibson told him that the ledger contained records from her home-based hair styling business.  On the stand, Andrea Gibson denies this.

Despite Sean Williams’ testimony, the jury returns a verdict of guilty and he is convicted of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.  Following his conviction, Sean Williams files an appeal with the Virginia Court of Appeals.  In drafting the appeal, the attorney for Sean Williams focuses on several claims:

1)	That the police conducted illegal searches and seizures of Mr. Williams and his personal property on September 5, 2014 in violation of the Fourth Amendment, thereby leading the contents of the green packet, the cash, and the ledger to be improperly admitted into evidence at trial, and

2)	That the police conducted illegal searches of the Williams’ yacht in violation of the Fourth Amendment and eyewitness identification procedures in violation of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, thereby leading the trial court to improperly admit into evidence the 5 pounds of marijuana and the identification of Sean Williams during the trial.

The appeals court rules in favor of the appellee (the prosecution) and affirms the decision of the trial court to admit the evidence.  Mr. Williams (the appellant) again appeals, this time to the Virginia Supreme Court, which also affirms the decision.  Mr. Williams then files a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court under 28 U.S. Code section 1257(a).  At this point, Mr. Williams becomes the ‘petitioner’ before the U.S. Supreme Court and the prosecution becomes the ‘respondent.’  The Supreme Court grants the writ and agrees to review the case.