The Minnesota Supreme Court made an interesting ruling recently. It overturned a narcotics conviction because the search that uncovered the drugs was unreasonable under the 4th Amendment. Why was this search unreasonable? Because it was conducted at night.
Susan Ranae Jackson's home was raided at night, with a search warrant. But, in this case, the warrant contained no information that provided an adequate basis to conclude that the search needed to occur at night. I'm guessing that if there were some danger that evidence might disappear or that danger to the warrant-serving officers were in the affidavit supporting the warrant, things might have been different.
But, what is interesting is that the "night-time" search issue provided a basis for reversal of a conviction. The 4th Amendment says nothing about the time of day for searches, nor has the United States Supreme Court said that searches should normally be in daylight hours. All that you can read in the Constitution is that searches should not be "unreasonable". Even the "original intent" readers of the Constitution would have to concede that the use of the term "unreasonable" leaves room for courts to put a gloss of some kind on the strict language of the Constitution. But, the U.S. Supreme Court has said that searches are unreasonable when there is a objective reason to know that people would expect privacy in certain areas. I guess that applies not only to geography, but to time of day.
Night-time searches could be arguably unreasonable because of the occupant's vulnerability at night. The mid-night phone call is alarming enough -- compare that to having your door blasted open by cops while your are in your bed-time attire and maybe asleep. The Minnesota court noted that 12 of the original states, plus the First Congress prohibited night-time searches by statute (as the State of Minnesota apparently has). While I never really considered whether the cops ought to be out busting down doors at night (since they do it so often on TV), I find myself in agreement with the Minnesota court. If there is a good reason to go into a home at night, then the cops ought to be able to articulate it. If not, everyone ought to get some sleep and take care of business in the morning.
1 comment:
Sometimes you can only find someone at home at night. If Minnesota wants to enact a statute banning night-arrests at a person's home, fine. But I don't think it implicates the 4th amendment to execute a warrant during the night, even if the warrant doesn't specify the hours it can be executed.
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