United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Shipley v. California, 395 U.S. 818 (1969)

Shipley v. California

No. 540, Misc.

Decided June 23, 1969

395 U.S. 818

Syllabus

Police officers, informed that petitioner was involved in a robbery, went to his residence and in petitioner's absence were allowed to enter by his "wife" and search her belongings. They found some rings taken by the robbers, and then "staked out" the house. When petitioner arrived, the officers arrested him as he alighted from his car, which was parked 15 or 20 feet from the house. They searched petitioner and the car, and, without permission or a warrant, again searched the house. They found a jewelry case stolen in the robbery, which was admitted into evidence at petitioner's trial, the trial court having upheld the second search as incident to the arrest. Petitioner was convicted, and the appellate court affirmed.

Held: It is not necessary to decide if Chimel v. California, ante, p. 395 U. S. 752, applies retroactively, the search clearly having violated the Fourth Amendment as made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth, since it has never been constitutionally permissible for the police, absent an emergency, to arrest a person outside his home and then take him inside for the purpose of conducting a warrantless search.

Certiorari granted; reversed and remanded.