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S.D.N.Y.: Insufficient evidence of defendant's presence in the home of a third party to justify entry

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

There was insufficient evidence defendant was in the place to be entered, of another person, to justify this entry. United States v. Luckey, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115260 (S.D. N.Y. December 10, 2009): Thus, a threshold question must be answered when law enforcement enters a home solely on the power of an arrest warrant: Did the officers know or have reason to know that they were entering a home belonging to a third party but not the arrestee? If the answer is yes, then Steagald controls. The question of whether the officers knew or had reason to know that they were entering the home of a person not named in the arrest warrant is another way of approaching the first prong of the test stated in Lauter: Where the officers had no reasonable basis to believe they were entering an arrestee's residence, Steagald requires a search warrant, consent, or exigent circumstances...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 13, 2009 (boomark / email).