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Exigent circumstances justified SWAT Team entry despite silence from inside

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Exigent circumstances justified a SWAT Team's entry into a FEMA trailer that they had surrounded. Apparently there was some risk of the offender's escape. State v. Berry, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 979 (La.App. 5 Cir. June 19, 2008): Exigent circumstances may arise from the need to prevent the offender's escape, minimize the possibility of a violent confrontation that could cause injury to the officers and the public, and preserve evidence from destruction or concealment. Brisban, 00-3437 at 5, 809 So.2d at 927-28. On review, we find that the entry was justified by exigent circumstances. Although the officers were prepared to and did wait hours after the other family members exited the trailer, the circumstances were exigent from the moment of their arrival...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 29, 2008 (boomark / email).