Absent exigent or emergency circumstances, a Warrant is needed to enter a home, whether it is an arrest warrant or a search warrant, and in some cases, both are needed.
The SC has stated “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed”.
One exigent circumstance is the destruction of evidence before a warrant can be obtained, as in Kentucky v. King last year. This however, was a contemporaneous entry with the chase of King ending at the home.
The 4th AM forbids an a warrantless entry as you describe, IMO. If the locals had info of drugs on the property, they could have applied for a Search Warrant.
A reliable tip is just that, whether a confidential informant or another agency, however, this does not negate the warrant requirement. He can outline the facts to his attorney.
Of course. Please continue on with the ‘My doper brother is being harassed by the cops!’ line. I’m sure Boss Hogg and Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane are now set up in Butler county to harass them Stitz boys.
He got a call back from a very good lawyer that wants to meet with him tomorrow, so hopefully he will take the case.
No, he isn’t on probation and hasn’t been for several years.
The reason I’m thinking it really did involve the trip to Butler county is that they knew he was in that county earlier that day, and they told him several times to just stay out of Butler county. If it was just a local informant, why would they have even mentioned Butler? But I know for certain that the marijuana didn’t come from Butler county. I really don’t think they could have been watching because the trip is about 20 miles and the truck doesn’t have any plates…giving them the perfect excuse to stop us legitimately. Instead, they wait nearly 12 hours and claim it was Butler county that called it in, hence them telling us that if another law enforcement agency calls them then they don’t need a warrant.
Anyway, thanks for the advice and maybe this will be enough of an eye opener to keep him clean.