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LA4: Hot pursuit into home for mere intoxication unreasonable

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Hot pursuit into defendant's home on suspicion of merely be intoxicated violated Payton and Welsh and was not supported by Santana. State v. Lala, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 1675 (4th Cir. December 12, 2008): Turning to the circumstances at hand, we find that Officer Sullivan's pursuit of the defendant into her home was unreasonable. While we are not prepared to say that [Santana]'s rationale cannot be extended beyond the context of probable cause to arrest, given the special protections of the home, the State must present a strong interest in conducting a warrantless entry into the home. Here, the defendant's actions would certainly have appeared perplexing to an observer, and were sufficient to warrant further investigation by Officer Sullivan and his partner; however, once the defendant retreated into the home, any concern for public safety was alleviated, and any concern for Lala's personal safety could have been addressed by other measures short of forcible entry into the home...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).