Brief Fact Summary. The Supreme Court of the Untied States (“Supreme Court”) consolidated two cases in this decision. The police entered the homes of the defendants, Theodore Payton (“Mr. Payton”) and Obie Riddick (“Mr. Riddick”)(the “defendants”), without a warrant and subsequently confiscated evidence found on the premises.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. The Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution (“Constitution”) prohibit warrantless entries for searches of homes, absent exigent circumstances, even when there is probable cause.
New York police arrested Mr. Riddick in 1974, three years after the two robberies that he was charged for were committed. Again, the police entered his home without a warrant, and they found narcotics in a drawer two feet from where Mr. Riddick was arrested.
Issue. Whether there is an illegal search and seizure when, without a warrant, police search a home during the course of an arrest and seize evidence where there is probable cause, but no exigent circumstances?
Held. It is unconstitutional, under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, to search a home during an arrest when there is no arrest warrant and there are no exigent circumstances. The Supreme Court holds that the entrance to a person’s home is a critical point where constitutional safeguards are heightened. This is true even when probable cause exists or when there is statutory authority permitting the searches.
The law is well settled that objects such as weapons or contraband found in a public place may be seized by the police without a warrant.
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