TN: 15 minutes of knocking on door demanding knock-and-talk did not lead to voluntary consent to enter

“[W]e conclude that the trial court erred by using a subjective rather than objective test in finding that the exigent circumstances were not sufficient to justify the officers’ entering the residence to perform a protective sweep. However, we determine that the police officers’ knocking on the front door for ten to fifteen minutes while announcing their badge of authority rendered the encounter with Ms. Hilliard nonconcensual and the knock and talk investigation unlawful. The subsequent warrantless entry of the residence therefore violated the prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizure under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article 1 section 7 of the Tennessee Constitution. The subsequent consent to search given by Ms. Hilliard was not voluntary and resulted from an exploitation of the prior illegality. We, therefore, affirm the judgments of the trial court suppressing the evidence in
these three cases.” State v. Hilliard, 2017 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 774 (Aug. 29, 2017)

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Comments are closed.