Arrest of the Defendant in the Defendant's Home

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

IV. Arrest of the defendant in the defendant's home

In United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 415-16 (1976), the Supreme Court held that, under the Fourth Amendment, an arrest, either warrantless or with a warrant, may be conducted outside the arrestee's home if the arresting officer has probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that the defendant committed it. However, an arrest in the arrestee's home has additional constitutional limitations under the Fourth Amendment because of the high expectation of privacy in one's home.

In fact, there are only four constitutionally permissible ways to enter a person's home, as follows: (a) with a valid search warrant; (b) with a valid arrest warrant (and limited to times when there is reasonable cause to believe that the arrestee is present); (c) exigent circumstances, see Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 750 (1984) (burden is on the Government to demonstrate exigent circumstances to overcome presumption of unreasonableness in entering a home); and (d) with consent. See, e.g., United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313 (1972) (physical entry into a home is the chief evil against which the Fourth Amendment is directed); Jones v. State, 407 Md. 33, 51 (2008).

A. What is an arrestee's home?

In addition to a person's actual home, a person is "at home," and is entitled to the Fourth Amendment protection of the home, if that person is (1) an "overnight guest" in a home; or (2) in a rented hotel or motel room. When "at home," the defendant has a reasonable expectation of privacy (REP) and has standing to challenge, on Fourth...