Police Can Enter DUI Suspects Homes Without Warrant
Date Posted to Site: 06/04/2006
If you've been driving under the influence but you made it home and hopped into bed to sleep it off, you're not out of the woods yet.
The California Supreme Court ruled today that police may enter Californians' homes without warrants to arrest those suspected of driving under the influence.
The case at issue was a test of the scope of the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
The decision follows similar rulings in about a dozen other states, and settles the confusion in California's lower courts over the issue.
The lone dissenting justice said the majority handed authorities a "free pass" to unlawfully enter private homes, and arrest people without warrants.
