Court: No right to resist illegal cop entry into home
INDIANAPOLIS | Overturning a common law dating back to the
English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled
Thursday that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police
entry into their homes.
In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court
said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no
reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the
officer's entry.
"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into
a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern
Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that
allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence
and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without
preventing the arrest."
David said a person arrested following an unlawful entry by
police still can be released on bail and has plenty of
opportunities to protest the illegal entry through the court
system.
The court's decision stems from a Vanderburgh County case in
which police were called to investigate a husband and wife arguing
outside their apartment.
When the couple went back inside their apartment, the husband
told police they were not needed and blocked the doorway so they
could not enter. When an officer entered anyway, the husband shoved
the officer against a wall. A second officer then used a stun gun
on the husband and arrested him.
Professor Ivan Bodensteiner, of Valparaiso University School of
Law, said the court's decision is consistent with the idea of
preventing violence.
"It's not surprising that they would say there's no right to
beat the hell out of the officer," Bodensteiner said. "(The court
is saying) we would rather opt on the side of saying if the police
act wrongfully in entering your house your remedy is under law, to
bring a civil action against the officer."
Justice Robert Rucker, a Gary native, and Justice Brent Dickson,
a Hobart native, dissented from the ruling, saying the court's
decision runs afoul of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution.
"In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by
essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now
enter their homes illegally -- that is, without the necessity of a
warrant, consent or exigent circumstances," Rucker said. "I
disagree."
Rucker and Dickson suggested if the court had limited its
permission for police entry to domestic violence situations they
would have supported the ruling.
But Dickson said, "The wholesale abrogation of the historic
right of a person to reasonably resist unlawful police entry into
his dwelling is unwarranted and unnecessarily broad."
This is the second major Indiana Supreme Court ruling this
week involving police entry into a home.
On Tuesday, the court said police serving a warrant may enter a
home without knocking if officers decide circumstances justify
it. Prior to that ruling, police serving a warrant would have to
obtain a judge's permission to enter without knocking.
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