(Indiana) Court: No right to resist unlawful police entry

AP/Chicago Tribune ^ | 5/13/11

[markomalley]

People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law.

The court issued its 3-2 ruling on Thursday, contending that allowing residents to resist officers who enter their homes without any right would increase the risk of violent confrontation. If police enter a home illegally, the courts are the proper place to protest it, Justice Steven David said.

"We believe ... a right to resist an unlawful police entry into a home is against public policy and is incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence," David said. "We also find that allowing resistance unnecessarily escalates the level of violence and therefore the risk of injuries to all parties involved without preventing the arrest."

Justices Robert Rucker and Brent Dickson strongly dissented, saying the ruling runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment against unreasonable search and seizure, The Times of Munster reported.

"In my view the majority sweeps with far too broad a brush by essentially telling Indiana citizens that government agents may now enter their homes illegally -- that is, without the necessity of a warrant, consent or exigent circumstances," Rucker said.

Both dissenting justices suggested they would have supported the ruling if the court had limited its scope to stripping the right to resist officers who enter homes illegally in cases where they suspect domestic violence is being committed.

But Dickson said, "The wholesale abrogation of the historic right of a person to reasonably resist unlawful police entry into his dwelling is unwarranted and unnecessarily broad."

[BobL]

““If police enter a home illegally, the courts are the proper place to protest it, Justice Steven David said.””

I was trying to find a Democrat to blame for this NIGHTMARE, but it appears to lay at the footstep of our Media-Darling Governor from Indiana, a Mr. Mitch Daniels.

http://indianacourts.us/times/2010/12/supreme-court-welcomes-justice-steven-david/

[Gondring]

The sad thing is, the officer was called to the scene, and the guy (her husband, who had moved out) went to the place and blocked it so the officer couldn’t get to where the caller was. The woman was asking the husband to stop blocking the officer.

I’m no lawyer, but it seems like this was not an “unlawful entry” situation. It seems that it was her domicile and not his, as he’d already vacated but came back. The officer was attempting to respond to her, not arrest the guy—until the guy assaulted him.

[Vaquero]

“Makes me wonder what kind of “police” we’ll be dealing with in a few years”.

the 2 bozos on top is the zer0bama/Holder paradigm for the new Hopey/Changy police department...be afraid.

[momtothree]

“... they’re Ranger wannabes...”

To be honest, that is the impression that I got. If someone wanted to join the military then do so proudly. Law Enforcement is not the military. Yes, they deal with bad-guys. But they also deal with lost children, injured people in car wrecks, victims of crime. The “look” is completely psychological on two fronts: it makes the public fear them more AND it creates the mind set within them that they are more soldier like (fighting an enemy).

[jneesy]

well thats fine and dandy IF during the unlawful entry they dont unlawfully kill you

[TheOldLady]

Yes, get up out of your grave and drag your own stinking corpse into court and protest that some hotshot gunned you down dead for scratching your nose.

Atta boy, "Judge." Power to the people POLICE STATE!!

[Pollster1]

Do you seriously think your buckshot or .30 cal or whatever is going win against a fire team wearing armor, NVS goglles, secure comms? Even military training without the miliary grade weapons, comms and equipment, won't help you, just as it did not help this Marine (see the link.)

One problem is not knowing whether it really is the police. I am unlikely to assume that an illegal forced entry into my home is actually being conducted by law enforcement officers, even though I am generally pro-police. Also, unless someone entering my home by force is clearly not wearing body armor, I will be aiming for the head because of the entirely justifiable fear for my life - and I will be hitting every time. If it really is SWAT or someone equally well-trained and equipped, they will get me with teamwork (maybe after taking casualties), but that's a really stupid path for them to take. If they knock and show a warrant, they can just walk in . . . and only look where specified in the warrant.

[EBH]

Soon it just becomes open warfare ala many parts of Los Angeles. In that scenario all cops lose. Then the cops will escalate to even more paramilitary operations and more citizens and cops will be killed. This could get out of hand very fast.

No they won't let it get out of hand. If there is too much resistance, they will just take our guns away. WE THE PEOPLE have escalated the violence and become unworthy of our 4th Amendment Rights.

[Happy Rain]

The “Gestapo Black” was a Himmler fashion statement borrowed from Mussolini's Blackshirts.
Even though most of the Italian Fascists were ordinary paramilitary volunteers,their standard black attire frightened the populace because a few “select” Blackshirts committed intentional public terrorist acts.So even a wimpy clerk or secretary for the force wearing the uniform scared people into absolute submission thus saving both the organization and the public further conflict.
The documented fact of more flags thrown on NFL teams with black jerseys—because they look dangerous—and the quite rational fear of black men (by people of ALL races) on streets late at night attests to the empirically provable extension of basic instinctual fear of the dark enhanced by the amplifying properties of the advanced human brain.
So even Deputy Cletus of Hazard County, Georgia would stand a better chance of surviving an encounter with some hard core Yankee drug dealer during a traffic stop on I-95 if he were dressed as a SWAT/SEAL/NINJA/Johhny Cash man in black.

[EBH]

Which is why this ruling is convoluted.

Officers were called to the domicile.

[EBH]

My point is as far as I am concerned ...they are not officers etc. and I will be defending myself. I readily admit that I will go into “fear for my life mode,” if some fools are forcing entry into my home.

It isn’t a matter of fighting the big bad cops, it is understanding the mentality of the homeowner.

Having been a victim in my own home...strangers conducting a forced entry will be shot at first.

[ravenwolf]

How do you settle it in court if you are killed in an illegal or even a legal police raid?

If the police are too stupid to knock on the door, show their I.D and serve a warrant, they should not be on the police force.

If they are not stupid and don,t do that any way, then they must just be wanting to kill some one.

[King Moonracer]

So LEOs are to be implicitly trusted now, to not plant evidence if they screw up if they want to cover their ass.

I guess a violent confrontation can ALSO be reolved before judge.

[ravenwolf]

I am 46 years old and never had the police illegally enter my home.

My father lived to 56 and he never had the police illegally enter his home.

Both my grandfathers lived into their 90’s and never had the police illegally enter their homes.

46 + 56 + 90 + 90 - 20 (years I lived with my father) = 262 years

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My family also has a history of crime, so the police never had to make illegal entries of their homes either.

[Boxsford]

That’s an ignorant statement. You compare law abiding citizens, american citizens, to a war criminal. Outrageous.

[markomalley]

Nazi Germany!!

No, the People's Democratic Republic of Amerika

[bk1000]

“So, all a criminal need do, is dress like a cop...”

No, it’s illegal to dress like a cop.

[JimRed]

...and the quite rational fear of black men (by people of ALL races) on streets late at night...

If we met a Herman Cain or Allen West on the street in a lonely place after dark, we'd have the same reaction. Because of the behavior of a percentage of the black population, the fear would, unfortunately, be rational.

And a black man can't be expected to greet everyone he meets with "don't worry, I'm not one of THEM"! Sad situation for the decent black folks.

[BykrBayb]

Want some cheese with that whine? That filthy pig is dead, and America is much pleased. Do your mourning elsewhere please.

[Grunthor]

Combine this with the new Obama policy, supported whole-heartedly by almost everybody here on FR, that the government can now break into your house in the middle of the night and pump two bullets into your head as you stand defenseless in your underwear, as long as it really, really wants to.

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Almost everybody? Really? I must be in the minority because I’ve never heard of this “policy.”