<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ymarie:
The police came to my house with a arrest warrant for my boyfriend and when I told them that he wasn't here they came in anyways (with their guns drawn )and found him in the bathroom. It was early in the morning and I had gotten up about 30 minutes before they arrived and he wasn't here but apparently came back while I was asleep. Did they have the right to search my house for him or should they have left when I said he wasn't here? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My response:
Ah, yes. Here come the lies so the police can justify entry and a search. To effect the arrest, the police can enter a suspect's home * only * if there is reasonable belief that the suspect is present. Prior to entry, they had to give, or make a reasonable effort to give, notice and purpose for entry, unless otherwise justified by * exigent circumstances. *
The Constitution does not allow an officer to enter the residence of a third party (that's you) not named in the arrest warrant without one of these circumstances:
1. Your consent;
2. "Hot pursuit";
3. A search warrant;
4. Exigent circumstances.
If all they had was an "arrest" warrant, and they didn't get your consent, were not in hot pursuit (i.e., they saw him run into the house), did not have a search warrant, and didn't have exigent circumstances to know he was there (e.g., they saw his "signature" telltale cigar smoldering in the ashtray), then the search is invalid, and any arrest is considered "fruit from a poisoned tree" and any arrest is invalid along with any statements he may have made after the arrest to the officers.
They will, most likely, lie about #1, above.
Get him his own attorney - - not a public defender.
However, thinking about this a little more, and re-reading your post, I get the impression now that your boyfriend was hiding in your home because, or perhaps, he skipped out on bail?
If he is a bail jumper, those weren't the police - - they were BOUNTY HUNTERS. That's a whole other area of law, going back to the mid to late 1800's. They don't need a search warrant. Let me know if they were Bounty Hunters, and / or whether your boyfriend had skipped out while on bail.
IAAL
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[This message has been edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE (edited June 05, 2000).]
