Ms. Mapp told the officers that she wanted to see a search warrant. They did not produce one. A few hours later, more officers arrived and forced their way into the house. Ms. Mapp called her lawyer and again asked to see a warrant. When one officer held up a piece of paper that he said was a warrant, Ms. Mapp snatched it and stuffed it into her blouse. The officer reached inside her clothing and snatched it back.The 4th Amendment violation, applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment, required exclusion of the evidence, the Supreme Court said in 1961.
The officers handcuffed Ms. Mapp — they called her “belligerent” — and then searched her bedroom, where they paged through a photo album and personal papers. They also searched her young daughter’s room, the kitchen, a dining area and the basement.
They did not find the man they were looking for, but they did find what they said were sexually explicit materials — books and drawings that Ms. Mapp said had belonged to a previous boarder — and they arrested Ms. Mapp.
December 10, 2014
Dollree Mapp, the Mapp of Mapp v. Ohio.
An obituary for the woman who demanded a search warrant in 1957.
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17 comments:
Gee...why couldn't she have just "come along quietly"?
If they'd killed her it would have been her fault!
I saw the obit this morning and my first thought was I wonder if althouse will blog about her?
I thought it interesting that the case went in as an obscenity case and came out as unlawful search/seizure one. But I guess the SC doesn't have to say why it takes up a case. Her subsequent conviction in NY reads mighty fishy to me.
(I thought the Herring decision was wrong. The State should not be able to say "Oops" and get away with it).
"If they'd killed her it would have been her fault!"
I see you're trying to connect this to current events, but you shouldn't try. So many differences it undermines your point.
It is these differences that is my point.
I see. Not really, but the Internet sometimes does that to me.
The need for criminal defense Lawyers sticks out like a sore thumb. Without them the citizens are without power.
When going after subhumans police historically have never cared about any law until SCOTUS started excluding evidence from illegal searches and coerced confessions.
Carry that over to our Black cousins being classed as subhumans by police on sight. Hmmm?
My criminal law professor told us that the guy they were looking for in the case was Don King. I never liked it up to check.
Apparently, they were looking for the gentleman suspected of bombing Don King's residence. Mr. King ran numbers.
See Dollree Mapp, 1923-2014: “The Rosa Parks of the Fourth Amendment”
By Ken Armstrong at The Marshall Project
Well, they eventually got her on bogus narcotics charges in Queens.
Here is the link: https://www.themarshallproject.org/2014/12/08/dollree-mapp-1923-2014-the-rosa-parks-of-the-fourth-amendment
"Robert Cook said...
It is these differences that is my point."
What differences are those?
Ms. Mapp told the officers that she wanted to see a search warrant. They did not produce one. A few hours later, more officers arrived and forced their way into the house. Ms. Mapp called her lawyer and again asked to see a warrant. When one officer held up a piece of paper that he said was a warrant, Ms. Mapp snatched it and stuffed it into her blouse. The officer reached inside her clothing and snatched it back.
Probably unwise in the current climate. Easy way to get killed.
When ICE agents came to my door, they said they had a search warrant but refused to show it to me until they had "secured the premises." Ten agents (eight? twelve? I don't know) ran through the house with guns drawn. Only after they gathered my husband and children (yes, children) with me in the the kitchen did they allow me to see the warrant.
Radley Balko estimates there are 100 SWAT-served searches every day across the U.S. I don't think that number includes "home invasion" style searches like the one at my house.
What good is our right to see the warrant when law enforcement can invade our homes without showing it to us?
Marie, it sounds as if the warrant was executed in a proper, lawful manner based on my experience.
They are going to "secure the premises" before they get down to any other business. And they should, for the safety of all present.
I appreciate your attempt to reassure me but the premises were secure before they came in. If they are supposed to show me the warrant, they can secure the premises after they do that.
"Robert Cook said...
It is these differences that is my point."
What differences are those?
That they didn't kill or otherwise brutalize her. That there was once a time when it wasn't assumed one had to comply with the police or be "at fault" for whatever the cops did to you, up to and including killing you. That the public would have been horrified at such behavior by the police.
The police have never been paragons of virtue, especially to the poor or to minorities, but the most savage and open brutality by cops today is shrugged off, despite video evidence of it. What once may have been hidden or denied is now shockingly common and open behavior...and their victims are blamed.
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