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Cal: Objective belief that people might be danger justified entry into locked bedroom

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officers had an objective belief that there were shooting victims in a locked room, so the police were justified in entering the room. They were already lawfully in the house on exigency. People v. Troyer, 2011 Cal. LEXIS 1827 (February 22, 2011): Accordingly, some courts have held that any probable cause requirement is automatically satisfied whenever there is an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is in need of emergency aid. ... Other courts have reasoned that the concept of probable cause simply has no role in the analysis of a warrantless entry into a residence under the emergency aid exception. ... We decline to resolve here what appears to be a debate over semantics. Under either approach, and in light of the fact that “the ultimate touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is ‘reasonableness,’” our task is to determine whether there was an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant was seriously injured or threatened with such injury...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 24, 2011 (boomark / email).