Answering a knock at the door with a marijuana cigarette in your mouth isn't enough reason for police to search your house without a warrant in New Jersey, a state appeals court panel ruled today. In a decision that runs counter to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the two-judge panel said this did not qualify as an "emergency"...
An unidentified man smokes a marijuana cigarette recreationally in this file photo from May 2003.Answering a knock at the door with a marijuana cigarette in your mouth isn't enough reason for police to search your house without a warrant in New Jersey, a state appeals court panel ruled today.
In a decision that runs counter to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the two-judge panel said this did not qualify as an "emergency" circumstance — such as hearing screams for help or when cops are chasing a suspect — that allows police to enter a home without a warrant.
The ruling reverses the conviction and sentencing of Rashad Walker, a Newark man they targeted on a tip from a confidential informant, and reins in warrantless searches by police officers.
George Thomas III, a criminal law professor at Rutgers University Law School, said he was surprised at the decision because the U.S. Supreme Court reached the opposite conclusion just two weeks ago in a drug case from Lexington, Ky. In that 8-1 decision, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the only dissenter, citing reasoning similar to this New Jersey case.
"The (U.S. Supreme) Court said police don’t need any probable cause to knock on your door," Thomas said. "We’re talking about two diametrically opposed conclusions."
The state attorney general’s office plans to ask the state Supreme Court to take the case, said spokesman Peter Aseltine.
Citing seven previous state court decisions, judges Clarkson S. Fisher and Jane Grall said police had no probable cause or pressing circumstances to enter Walker’s apartment without a warrant despite his appearance at the front door with the contraband.
Deputy Attorney General Hillary Horton had argued the law excepted Newark police because Walker had dashed back into the apartment, leaving officers to believe he was going to flush drugs down the toilet.
While noting destruction of evidence could be valid reason for police to enter a home without a warrant, the appellate panel said the Newark police officers created the emergency circumstances by knocking on the door and announcing their presence.
"Prior to (Walker) seeing the officer’s badge, police were not faced with `exceptional conditions’ creating exigent circumstances," the judges wrote.
Leslie Stolbof Sinemus, president of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey, called the decision "a check on what police officers have been allowed to do under the guise of exigent circumstances."
"We celebrate the appellate division for its sensitivities and honor to the protections of the constitution," she said.
In Walker’s case, a confidential informant told police a black man was selling heroin, cocaine and marijuana from a specific apartment on Riverview Court in Newark in 2009. The court said police had an obligation to verify that broad information rather than by go into his apartment without a search warrant.
After losing an attempt at the trial court level to get the alleged cocaine and other contraband quashed, Walker pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute and possession with intent to distribute within 500 feet of public housing. He was sentenced to six years in prison.