The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on June 2 to consider whether police need to obtain a warrant to enter a home in an emergency.
According to the appeal, a man was allegedly suicidal but was charged with assault after the police entered his home, allegedly to help him.
The court granted the petition in Case v. Montana in an unsigned order. The court did not explain its decision. No justices dissented.
The case goes back to Sept. 27, 2021, when William Trevor Case was shot by local police after they entered his Montana home.
Law enforcement had arrived at the home after receiving a telephone call from Case’s ex-girlfriend reporting that he was threatening to kill himself. The police officers did not contemplate obtaining a warrant to enter the residence because, as one officer said, “it wasn’t a criminal thing. [They] were going in to assist him,” according to a summary in the Montana Supreme Court ruling of Aug. 6, 2024….