law that protects you from police coming to your house for one thing and arresing you for contraband

Police can only enter if there were a genuine emergency going on at that very moment. Would the situation be different if the cop was small town 'Andy from Mayberry' vs 'Kojak' from the big city? Roberts followed up with references to beloved television shows. 'No' answered Dvoretzky, 'I think that alone would not be enough.' 'Would that be enough' for the police to enter the house without a warrant to check up on the missing neighbor? She's never late, she isn't answering her phone, and her back door is open, so the neighbors call the police. Suppose an elderly neighbor doesn't show up for a planned weekly dinner, he said.

Representing Edward Caniglia, lawyer Shay Dvoretzky said that an exception like that would 'eviscerate' the warrant protections of the Fourth Amendment.Ĭhief Justice John Roberts challenged the limits of Dvoretzky's argument. The lower courts ruled that police could enter the home and under the so-called the community care-taking exception to the Constitution's warrant requirement. So he sued, alleging an illegal seizure and search of his home.

In the meantime, police had confiscated his guns and ammunition. Later that day, doctors concluded he was not a threat to himself or others and released him. Police found the husband on the front porch, and sent him for a psychological evaluation.

Law that protects you from police coming to your house for one thing and arresing you for contraband