Supreme Court backs Montana police who entered a home without warrant for emergency

By John Fritze, CNN

(CNN) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday sided with county police in Montana who entered the home of a man without a warrant because they feared he might be suicidal, rejecting an argument that the officers needed probable cause.

Justice Elena Kagan wrote the opinion for a unanimous court.

“We repeat today what we have held before: An officer may enter a home without a warrant if he has ‘an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury,’” Kagan wrote. “The officers’ entry satisfied that test.”

Police arrived at the home of William Trevor Case west of Butte, Montana, in 2021 after his ex-girlfriend reported he had threatened suicide during an earlier telephone call. Peering through the windows, they noticed an empty handgun holster and a notepad, which they took to be a suicide note.

Several of the officers involved had known Case, an Army veteran, for years. Body camera footage suggests at least some were concerned that Case was attempting to bring the officers into his home to attempt “suicide by cop.”

As they entered his home through an unlocked door and began clearing rooms, Case emerged from behind a closet curtain, revealing what officers said appeared to be a “black object,” according to court records. One of the officers fired, striking Case in the arm and abdomen. Police seized a handgun lying in a laundry basket near Case, who was hospitalized and survived. The county said bodycam footage later confirmed that Case pointed a gun at one of the officers as he emerged from the closet.

When county prosecutors charged him with felony assault on a peace officer, Case moved to suppress the evidence from the officers’ warrantless entry into his house. A trial court denied that motion and Case was convicted. In a divided decision, Montana’s Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s decision, ruling police entered the home under the “community caretaker” exception to the 4th Amendment, which allows police to enter a home without a warrant if their purpose is not investigate a crime.

In his appeal to the US Supreme Court, Case argued that police should have had probable cause to believe an emergency is occurring.

“Because that suicide-by-cop risk was one the officers controlled, and because the entry itself is what created the risk that Case would be ‘seriously injured,’ it was unreasonable for the officers to enter Case’s home without a warrant,” Case’s lawyers told the Supreme Court.

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