- A man was shooting a crossbow in the yard at his in-town residence and neighbors call the police to report the illegal activity.
- The man returns the crossbow to the residence, then goes back outside.
- The police arrive and begin questioning the man, who refuses to provide identification and attempts to leave and go inside the residence.
- The police struggle with the man on the porch of the residence and both officers are injured (cuts during struggle), resulting in the man being arrested and taken to jail.
- The man's wife has a video camera and asks other officers what happened.
- A sergeant arrived and said he needed to come in the residence to take a statement from the wife; she refuses entry to the residence without a search warrant.
- The wife acknowledged the man had been shooting a crossbow outside, but the crossbow was later brought in the residence and put away.
- The wife answered that there were no guns in the residence, but the crossbow was in the residence.
- The wife answered that none of the disturbance took place in the residence.
- The sergeant said the police will seize the residence and the wife and her child will have to leave the residence while the police apply for a search warrant.
The issues presented were:
- The wife refused warrantless entry to the residence and the police responded by saying they were 'seizing' the residence and the wife had to leave until the police could obtain a search warrant.
- What is the value of refusing consent to search without a warrant if the police can arbitrarily seize (and presumably 'sweep') the residence while attempting to obtain a warrant?
- What authority do police have to control the [non-]scene (inside the residence) of an investigation?
Last edited: