Welsh v. Wisconsin

Welsh v. Wisconsin 1984

Facts: Evening of April 24, 1978, the defendant was seen driving a car erratically, and the car eventually swerved off the road and came to a stop in an open field. A passerby called the police, and before the police arrived the driver walked away. The officer identified the driver from the registration of the abandoned car. Without a warrant the officer went to the defendant's home. The D's daughter let them in. the officer found the D upstairs and arrested him for driving while udner the influence of an intoxicant.
Issue: Whether the warrantless arrest violates the Fourth Amendment protection against unlawful search and seizure.
Holding: The warrantless, nighttime entry of petitioner's home to arrest him for a civil, nonjailable traffic offense, was prohibited by the special protection afforded the individual in his home by the Fourth Amendment.
Analysis:
1. When the government’s interest is only to arrest for a minor offense, that presumption of unreasonableness is difficult to rebut, and the government usually should be allowed to make such arrests only with a warrant issued upon probable cause by a neutral and detached magistrate.
2. An important factor to be considered when determining whether any exigency exists is the gravity of the underlying offense for which the arrest is being made. Exception to a home entry should rarely be sanctioned.
3. Evidence of petitioner’s blood-alcohol level may dissipate is not sufficient here since the minor offense is insufficiently substantial to justify warrantless in-home arrests under exigent circumstances (where dissent disagrees).

Infobox SCOTUS case
Litigants=Welsh v. Wisconsin
ArgueDate=October 5
ArgueYear=1983
DecideDate=May 15
DecideYear=1984
FullName=Edward G. Welsh v. State of Wisconsin
Docket=82-5466
OralArgument=http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1983/1983_82_5466/argument/
Citation=104 S. Ct. 2091; 80 L. Ed. 2d 732; 1984 U.S. LEXIS 82; 52 U.S.L.W. 4581
USVol=466
USPage=740
Prior=
Procedural=Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin
Subsequent=
Holding=Absent exigent circumstances, a warrantless nighttime entry into the home of an individual to arrest him for a civil, nonjailable traffic offense is prohibited by the special protection afforded the individual in his home by the Fourth Amendment.
SCOTUS=1981-1986
Majority=Brennan
JoinMajority=Marshall, Blackmun, Powell, Stevens, O'Connor
Concurrence=Blackmun
Dissent=White
JoinDissent=Rehnquist, (Burger would have dismissed the writ)
LawsApplied=

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 466