Kentucky v. King: Break Down The Door

Kentucky v. King, no. 09-1272 (May 16, 2011)

The United States Supreme Court rendered an important decision in a search and seizure case that will be of interest to law enforcement. Here's how it went down.

Police in Lexington followed a suspected drug dealer to an apartment building. Smelling marijuana outside an apartment the police knocked and announced. Hearing noises that indicated that the occupants were attempting to destroy evidence, they breached the door and found marijuana in plain sight.

The defendant, King, moved to suppress the evidence but the district court overruled his motion. The Kentucky Supreme Court reversed, holding that the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement does not apply when police should have foreseen that their conduct would prompt the spoliation of evidence.

The US Supremes overruled, holding that the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement does not control where police manufacture the exigent circumstances, but when police have not manufactured the circumstances leading to the exigent circumstances, the search is not invalidated.