This week the Supreme Court will take up the case of a man convicted for a rather minor count of marijuana possession. How they eventually decide the case will determine whether or not the Court continues to gut the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizures.
The case is pretty straightforward. Charles McArthur’s estranged wife called police to wait outside the trailer they shared while she moved her stuff out. After her final trip she told police that McArthur had a stash of marijuana in the house. He told police he didn’t, and they decided to get a warrant to search the trailer.
It’s what they did in the two hours it took to get the warrant that is at issue — they refused to allow McArthur to go back into his trailer. The police said they had to do so or McArthur would have destroyed the evidence; a point which even McArthur concedes. On the other hand as several appeals courts have ruled, this is a pretty clear case of an illegal search and seizure. By preventing McArthur from re-entering his home before searching it, they effectively seized it without a warrant.
The fact that the Supreme Court agreed to consider the case after several appeals courts excluded the seized marijuana suggests that it is likely they might overturn that exclusion. This Court has already twisted the Fourth Amendment into so many knots that there’s very little real protection anymore from a police officer intent on searching your property or person.
The police chief’s claims about how the severity of the case outline how far the drug war has gone in undermining the basic protections of citizens from the state. Illinois’ Moultire County State’s Attorney Tim Willis notes that, “They [police] could have kicked the door down. They didn’t do that. If the Supreme Court rules against us generally … people are going to get away with crimes.”
Kick the door in to seize a little marijuana? When did that sort of reaction make sense. The way the police talk, they had to treat McArthur the same way they might treat someone who said he had a bomb set to go off in 5 minutes hidden somewhere in his trailer or if they hard heard gunshots coming from his place. Come on, the guy just had some marijuana.
Instead of going along with Willis and saying “they could have kicked the door down,” we need to seriously re-evaluate if we really want police going around kicking down doors to get at evidence of non-violent drug offenses. Surely police in Illinois have better things to do than bully pot smokers in trailer parks.
Source:
Pot bust spurs Supreme Court hearing on search and seizure. The Associated Press, October 31, 2000.