CA4: “Reason to believe” the defendant is home for execution of an arrest warrant under Payton is less than PC

“Reason to believe” the defendant is home for execution of an arrest warrant under Payton v. New York is less than probable cause. Fialdini v. Cote, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 22938 (4th Cir. December 5, 2014):

An arrest warrant supported by probable cause provides officers with “the limited authority to enter a dwelling in which the suspect lives when there is reason to believe the suspect is within.” Payton v. New York , 445 U.S. 573, 603 (1980). Absent consent or exigent circumstances, police may not, however, enter the home of a third-person to execute an arrest warrant for a suspect named therein without first obtaining a search warrant. Steagald v. United States , 451 U.S. 204, 205-06 (1981). In order to determine whether police entry into a home to execute an arrest warrant is lawful, courts consider “(1) whether there is reason to believe that the location is the defendant’s residence, and (2) whether or not there was a ‘reasonable belief’ that he would be home.” United States v. Hill , 649 F.3d 258, 262 (4th Cir. 2011).

The Supreme Court did not define the “reason to believe” standard articulated in Payton. In the absence of this guidance, our sister circuits have formulated their own definitions.³ In keeping with our Hill decision, we need not enter into the midst of this debate because, even if we assume that the “reason to believe” standard requires a showing equivalent to probable cause, that standard is met here.

3. Many circuits have concluded that the “reason to believe” standard requires a showing less exacting than probable cause. See, e.g., United States v. Werra, 638 F.3d 326, 337 (1st Cir. 2011); United States v. Barrera, 464 F.3d 496, 501 n.5 (5th Cir. 2006); United States v. Thomas, 429 F.3d 282, 286 (D.C. Cir. 2005); Valdez v. McPheters, 172 F.3d 1220, 1227 n.5 (10th Cir. 1999); United States v. Lauter, 57 F.3d 212, 215 (2d Cir. 1995). The Ninth Circuit equates reasonable belief to probable cause, see United States v. Gorman, 314 F.3d 1105, 1114 (9th Cir. 2002), and other circuits have declined to precisely define the “reason to believe” standard. See, e.g., United States v. Powell, 379 F.3d 520, 523 (8th Cir. 2004); United States v. Magluta, 44 F.3d 1530, 1535 (11th Cir. 1995).