MA: Arrest at door alone didn’t justify protective sweep

Half a dozen officers showed up at defendant’s house with an arrest warrant. He met them at the door, and he was handcuffed and arrested and said “Let’s go.” He was asked whether others were in the house, and he mumbled something and said “no.” Officers entered and looked under the bed upstairs finding a gun. The protective sweep was unjustified and unconstitutional. The officers had no reasonable reason to believe anyone else was in the house. Commonwealth v. Saywahn, 2017 Mass. App. LEXIS 84 (June 15, 2017).

The taxpayer’s conclusory claim that the Fourth Amendment somehow was part of the due process section of the Fourteenth Amendment is rejected. “Thermo-Cycler has not provided the Court with any explanation as to how these provisions relate to or impact its due process claim, and the Court will not undertake to figure it out.” Thermo-Cycler Indus. v. Ind. Dep’t of State Revenue, 2017 Ind. Tax LEXIS 21 (June 15, 2017).*

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