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CA3: Nighttime search without specific authority of warrant would be a Fourth Amendment violation

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In a case where a SWAT team entered a house in Wilmington DE with a warrant looking for suspected murderer “Dwayne A. Walker” entered the house of younger “Dewayne Walker Jr.” The entry before 6 a.m. lasted about 20 minutes when the police realized they were sent to the wrong house and then excused themselves. The court finds triable issues of a Franks and a nighttime search violation. Walker v. City of Wilmington, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 853 (3d Cir. January 14, 2010) (unpublished): It is in this context that a jury could find that Lawson made his representation to the magistrate: "a past proven reliable informant ... stated [that] Walker is currently hiding at his mother's house in New Castle and is making plans to flee Delaware...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 17, 2010 (boomark / email).