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Entry into open door after nobody answered was unlawful because of no exigency

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Officer came to a house on a complaint of animal abuse and breeding dogs for fighting. The house was partially boarded up and could have been abandoned, but he had no information. At the front door, he knocked. It was already open about six inches, and he signed his flashlight inside and saw clothes on the floor. He entered (under department policy) with his gun drawn and flashlight shining to see if anything was amiss. It wasn't, but he found and seized "for safekeeping" an assault rifle. The entry was illegal, but a second entry was not, so the second entry supported seizure. United States v. Vurgess, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82293 (S.D. Ga. August 20, 2008).* Drug dog arrived and did its business within nine minutes of start of stop, so the stop was not unreasonably extended...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on October 19, 2008 (boomark / email).