Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

NY4: Fire scene search by deputy sheriff violated Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Fire scene search by deputy sheriff after fire was extinguished was a criminal search unrelated to the fire, and it was suppressed. People v. Christianson, 2008 NY Slip Op 10269, 2008 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 10026 (4th Dept. December 31, 2008): At the time the Sheriff's Deputy arrived at defendant's home, the fire officials had extinguished the blaze, ventilated the home, and determined the origin of the fire. Moreover, the Fire Chief testified at the suppression hearing that he called for the Sheriff's Deputy to investigate other safety concerns, such as the locked interior door and boarded-up windows. Those concerns, however, did not pose an immediate threat to defendant and thus do not fall within the purview of the emergency exception to the warrant requirement (see generally People v Molnar, 98 NY2d 328, 332; People v Mitchell, 39 NY2d 173, 177-178, cert denied 426 U...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 04, 2009 (boomark / email).