Should the state of California win, defense attorneys worry the decision will further erode trust between communities and police.
“When the citizen advises the police of his choice (not to allow a search) and the police, rather than respect that decision, override it and enter his home nonetheless, it sends a clear message that individual choice will be respected only when it suits the government’s purposes,” wrote attorneys representing the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, in an amicus brief.
“When a citizen’s request does not fit the purposes of the government, the police will engineer other means to the same end,” the attorneys wrote.
This concern was echoed by Justice Elena Kagan, who worried that police could just arrest someone to remove them from the premises and then search a house.
Depending on the court’s decision, police procedure on searches could change dramatically. “This could create a huge complication for officers because they would have to find out if at any time a co-tenant had refused a search,” said Chief David Spotts, chief of the Mechanicsburg Police Department and executive board member of the legal officers section of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
“What if they’d told a different police department that they refused a search? If the ruling is for Fernandez, I think this becomes a really complicated procedure for police to navigate in future situations with cotenants,” Spotts said.
This case would have particular resonance in college towns, big cities or anywhere else with large concentrations of people living in apartments with multiple tenants. State courts in Colorado, New York and Wisconsin and four federal circuit courts have issued rulings allowing the police to search without a warrant as long as one tenant grants permission, after the refusing roommate left the apartment. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a Michigan federal court, an Oregon state appellate court and the District of Columbia appellate court have issued opposite rulings.
The U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision in the case next year.
Article Appeared @http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/14/stateline-supreme-court-roommate-police-searches/3525191/