Fire Investigators Can Remain on Scene and Seize Items in Plain View. State v. Amodio 390 NJ Super 313 (App. Div. 2007).

In this matter, defendant was convicted of passion/provocation manslaughter, felony murder, arson and other offenses arising from the death of his girlfriend and her son in a fire at defendant's home. The court held that: 1) evidence obtained by the police and other officials in the fire-damaged home was properly seized without a warrant because the evidence was found during an investigation into the cause and origin of the fire, which was conducted within a reasonable time after the fire had been extinguished; and 2) the warrantless seizure of defendant's clothes was permissible because those garments had been removed from defendant in order to provide emergency medical assistance.