Arrest of the Defendant in A Third Party's Home

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

V. Arrest of the defendant in a third party's home

A. Arrest warrant does not include a search of a third party's home, even if there is reasonable cause to believe the arrestee is present

In Steagald, 451 U.S. at 206-07, police had an arrest warrant for the arrestee, who they believed was at the third party's home. Police entered the home of the third party and searched for the arrestee named in the warrant. The arrestee did not live at the home of the third party. During the search, police found drugs. The Supreme Court held that the search of the defendant's home, without a warrant, violated the Fourth Amendment, stating:

[W]hether the arrest warrant issued in this case adequately safeguarded the interests protected by the Fourth Amendment depends upon what the warrant authorized the agents to do. To be sure, the warrant embodied a judicial finding that there was probable cause to believe that [the arrestee] had committed a felony, and the warrant therefore authorized the officers to seize [him]. However, the agents sought to do more than use the warrant to arrest [the arrestee] in a public place or his home; instead, they relied on the warrant as legal authority to enter the home of a third person based on their belief that [the arrestee] might be there. Regardless of how reasonable this belief might have been, it was never subjected to the

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