United States v. Hernan Ramirez (523 U.S. 65)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided March 4, 1998 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 523 U.S. 65 · 118 S. Ct. 992
- Decided
- March 4, 1998
- Term
- October Term 1997
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. In Richards v. Wisconsin, 520 U. S. 385, 394 (1997), we held that so-called “no-knoek” entries are justified when police officers have a “reasonable suspicion” that knocking and announcing their presence before entering would “be dangerous or futile, or .. . inhibit the effective investigation of the crime.” In this ease, we must decide whether the Fourth Amendment holds officers to a higher standard than this when a “no-knoek” entry results in the destruction of property. We hold that it does not. Alan Shelby was a prisoner serving concurrent state and federal sentences in the Oregon state prison system. On November 1,1994, the Tillamook County Sheriff’s Office took temporary custody of Shelby, expecting to transport him to the Tillamook County Courthouse, where he was scheduled to testify. On the way to the courthouse, Shelby slipped his handcuffs, knocked over a deputy sheriff, and escaped from custody. It was not the first time Shelby had attempted escape. In 1991 he struck an officer, kicked out a jail door, assaulted a woman, stole her vehicle, and used it to ram a police vehicle. Another time he attempted escape by using a rope made from torn bedsheets. He was reported to have made threats to kill witnesses and police officers, to have tortured people with a hammer, and to have said that he would “ ‘not do…
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