Richards v. Wisconsin

520 U.S. 385 (1997)

Purchase the Printed Copy at bsmsphd.com

Nature of the Case

To access this section all you need to do is click here and register.

Facts

Police requested a no-knock warrant to search Richards' (D) hotel room. The warrant was given, but the magistrate explicitly deleted the no-knock portions of the warrant. The officers executed the warrant at 3:40 a.m. and faked their way into the room by disguising one of them as a maintenance man. When the door was opened to examine who was really there, D quickly slammed it shut. The officers began kicking and ramming the door to gain entry and claimed that they identified themselves as police. When they finally gained entrance, they found D trying to escape through a window, and cash and cocaine hidden in plastic bags above the bathroom ceiling tiles. D sought suppression of this evidence on the grounds that the officers failed to knock and announce their presence prior to forcing entry into the room. The trial court denied that motion on grounds that D's behavior was indicative of his desire to destroy evidence once he learned the police were at his doorstep. The Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed; exigent circumstances justified a no-knock entry, and those circumstances are always present in felony drug cases and as such police do not need information about the dangerousness or the possible destruction of drugs to dispense with the knock and announce requirements. The Supreme Court granted certiorari.