Brigham City v. Stuart
| Brigham City v. Stuart | |
|---|---|
| Argued April 24, 2006 Decided May 22, 2006 | |
| Full case name | Brigham City, Utah v. Charles W. Stuart, Shayne R. Taylor and Sandra A. Taylor |
| Docket no. | 05-502 |
| Citations | 547 U.S. 398 (more) 126 S. Ct. 1943; 164 L. Ed. 2d 650; 2006 U.S. LEXIS 4155 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Motion to suppress granted, Brigham City District Court; affirmed, 57 P.3d 1111 (Utah Ct. App. 2002); affirmed, 122 P.3d 506 (Utah 2004) |
| Holding | |
| Police may enter a home without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. Utah Supreme Court reversed and remanded. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Roberts, joined by unanimous |
| Concurrence | Stevens |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | |
Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (2006), is a United States Supreme Court case involving the exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. The Court ruled that police may enter a home without a warrant if they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is or is about to be seriously injured.
The case involved the arrest of four adults seen restraining a juvenile, who punched one of the adults who was restraining him. The trial court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss, arguing that the warrantless entry was not supported by exigent circumstances; the Utah Court of Appeals and Utah Supreme Court both affirmed the trial court's ruling. However, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case on May 22, 2006.