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OH8: Officer opening a screen door and entering to ask questions was an unreasonable entry

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Police officer went to the door of a “boot joint” (bootleg house) with a screen door and the inside door was open. The officer opened the screen door and stepped on the threshold and asked “Is this a boot joint?” They said yes, and he came in. This was an entry without exigent circumstances. State v. Johnson, 2010 Ohio 1790, 2010 Ohio App. LEXIS 1489 (2d Dist. April 23, 2010)*: [*P17] Officer Beall's conduct in opening the screen door of the apartment and stepping into the open doorway to present himself to those inside constituted an unlawful warrantless entry onto those premises. The admission he then procured from Defendant that the premises was a boot joint is subject to suppression as fruit of the poisonous tree...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 26, 2010 (boomark / email).