John McNally, Alexandria, Va. (Murphy, McGettingan, McNally & West, Alexandria, Va., Jonathan Shapiro, Zwerling & Shapiro, Alexandria, Va., Stephen W. Bricker, Bricker & Zerkin, Richmond, Va., on brief), for appellants.
Robert
Lyndon Howell, Asst. County Atty., Alexandria, Va. (David T. Stitt, County
Atty., Peter D. Andreoli, Jr., Asst. County Atty., Fairfax, Va., on brief), for
appellees.
Before
BUTZNER, PHILLIPS and MURNAGHAN, Circuit Judges.
Plaintiffs are two couples whose respective residences were
searched by officers of the Police Department of Fairfax County, Virginia,
without search warrants or consent, but on the supposed authority of a valid
arrest warrant for another person suspected but not found to be in either of
the residences.
The plaintiffs brought an action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against
the officers who conducted the search and their police chief seeking
declaratory, injunctive, and monetary relief. The district court dismissed on
the basis that the searches were constitutional by reason of the arrest
warrant.
In accordance with the
opinion of the Court of Appeals, the court hereby declares that the searches
complained of in this suit violated the plaintiffs' rights under the Fourth
Amendment to the United States Constitution, in that they were conducted
without a search warrant, and did not fall under any of the exceptions to the
Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement.
Reasonable or probable cause to believe that a person for whom an arrest warrant has been issued is on premises belonging to a third party, standing alone, is not sufficient under the Fourth Amendment to authorize an invasion of the privacy of that person's home.
Furthermore, it is the order of this Court, consistent with the opinion of the Court of Appeals, that defendants, their agents, employees, and all members of the Fairfax County Police Department are hereby permanently enjoined from conducting searches of third parties' homes in search of persons for whom they may have an arrest warrant, without first obtaining a properly issued search warrant for those premises, unless consent or exigent circumstances are present.
The defendant Chief of Police is hereby directed to inform all Fairfax County police officers of this Order, and to take such steps as are reasonably necessary to ensure compliance with it.