Supreme Court prohibits security forces from entering a home without a court order

The highest court in the United States ruled Wednesday that police cannot enter a home without a warrant when pursuing someone for a misdemeanor

Photo: ELIJAH NOUVELAGE / AFP / Getty Images

The US Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that police cannot always enter a home without a warrant when pursuing someone for a misdemeanor.

The court returned the case to the lower court for to decide whether the police violated the rights of a California man chasing him into his garage, for allegedly playing loud music while driving down a deserted two-lane highway late at night, reported NPR .

Writing for the unanimous court, the Judge Elena Kagan said that the police had no right to enter the man’s home without a warrant judicial for such a trivial crime.

“On many occasions, the officer will have good reasons to enter, to prevent imminent damage from violence, destruction of evidence, or escape from the house,” he wrote. bió the judge. “But when the officer has time to obtain a warrant, he must do so, even if the offender who committed the misdemeanor has fled.”

The court ruling occurred in the case of Arthur Lange, who was playing loud music in his car one night, and at one point, honked his horn several times.

A California Highway Patrol officer, believing Lange was violating a noise ordinance, followed him, and when the motorist slowed to enter his driveway, the officer turned on the lights turn signals.

Lange, who later said he did not notice the police car, entered his garage.

The officer, in “pursuit”, got out of his car and put his foot under the sensor of the garage door closing to force the door open again. He had no court order to enter the house, but once inside, he said, he smelled liquor on Lange’s breath and arrested him, not only for the noise violation, but also for driving under the influence.

Lange appealed to the Supreme Court to the end, alleging that the officer did not have the right to enter his home without a warrant and that evidence of DUIs had been obtained illegally.

The Supreme Court has long held that the police can conduct a search without warrant when pursuing a fleeing criminal.

The question in Lange’s case was if the police are free to do the same when pursuing someone suspected of a misdemeanor like playing loud music.

“The prosecution of a misdemeanor does not trigger a cate to allow entry into a house without a warrant, ”wrote Kagan.