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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says the latest job numbers show an economy still struggling to recover, but not one where hiring suddenly has stalled, which he says just might if Mitt Romney is elected....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says the latest job numbers show an economy still struggling to recover, but not one where hiring suddenly has stalled, which he says just might if Mitt Romney is elected....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says the latest job numbers show an economy still struggling to recover, but not one where hiring suddenly has stalled, which he says just might if Mitt Romney is elected....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says the latest job numbers show an economy still struggling to recover, but not one where hiring suddenly has stalled, which he says just might if Mitt Romney is elected....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Joe Biden says he hopes Osama bin Laden was wrong in his assessment that Biden would not be able to lead the nation if the president was killed....

HARDEMAN COUNTY, Tenn. (AP) — Authorities are working to identify two people found dead at a home associated with a man suspected in the abduction of a woman and her three young daughters.

The bodies were found in Mississippi, though FBI spokesman Joel Siskovic would not say if they were ...

Casey Stoner holds off Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa to win in Portugal and take the lead in the MotoGP standings.

Voters in Greece headed to the polls Sunday to take part in parliamentary elections amid wide uncertainty over what government will emerge and how it will handle the austerity crisis gripping the nation.

A statue of Sir Bobby Robson is unveiled outside the south-west corner of Newcastle United's ground.

A roadside bomb killed three U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, a Western official said.

Officer following a DUI suspect home watched defendant pull into his garage. As the garage door was closing, she stuck her foot in to stop the door from closing. This was an unreasonable entry of the home without a warrant or exigent circumstances. The police had probable cause, but all the state's claimed exigent circumstances were considered and rejected. State v. Dugan, 2012 Kan. App. LEXIS 49 (May 4, 2012):

he United States Constitution draws a line at the threshold of a person's home over which law enforcement officers may not step without a warrant from a judge or exigent circumstances so compelling as to override that fundamental right. The Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches of dwellings or seizures of their occupants reflects a tenet the founders considered essential to the ordered liberty they fought a war to achieve and then cherished as this nation matured. That prohibition is no less significant nearly two and a half centuries into this country's maturation. The comparatively mundane facts of this case belie the magnitude of the constitutional right and the significance of the constitutional issue—when government agents may claim exigency to override Fourth Amendment protections of citizens in their own homes.

I. Factual and Procedural History

The Douglas County District Court denied a motion to suppress evidence a Lawrence police officer obtained after she stuck her foot in a garage door to keep it from closing and then entered a private home to search and seize Defendant Troy E. Dugan based on a reported misdemeanor traffic offense. The district court found the officer's actions did not offend the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although the question might be closer than some, we do not share the district court's tolerance for the governmental breach of a private residence and, therefore, reverse that ruling with directions the motion be granted.

. . .

The courts have generally recognized four types of exigent circumstances that may obviate the warrant requirement: (1) preventing harm to law enforcement officers or others by capturing a dangerous suspect, see Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 298-99, 87 S. Ct. 1642, 18 L. Ed. 2d 782 (1967); (2) securing evidence in the face of its imminent loss, see King, 131 S. Ct. at 1853-54; (3) hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect, see United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 42-43, 96 S. Ct. 2406, 49 L. Ed. 2d 300 (1976) ; and (4) thwarting escape of a suspect, see Welsh, 466 U.S. at 754. Minnesota v. Olson, 495 U.S. 91, 100, 110 S. Ct. 1684, 109 L. Ed. 2d 85 (1990) (noting those exigent circumstances); United States v. Struckman, 603 F.3d 731, 743 (9th Cir. 2010) (cataloging exigent circumstances). Those categories of exigency are not exclusive, and the facts of a given case might support some different imperative rendering a search or seizure constitutionally reasonable under the Fourth Amendment without a warrant. Struckman, 603 F.3d 743 ("no immutable list of exigent circumstances"); United States v. Plavcak, 411 F.3d 655, 663 (6th Cir. 2005). Likewise, the factual scenario in a given case might implicate multiple exigencies, suggesting a greater likelihood of reasonableness. See Santana, 427 U.S. at 43 (While hot pursuit "was sufficient to justify the warrantless entry into Santana's house," the narcotics officers also had "a realistic expectation" that Santana would try to dispose of illegal drugs on the premises.).

The courts have recognized an allied exception when a warrantless entry reasonably appears necessary to assist persons who are seriously injured or face imminent injury. Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 403 (recognizing emergency assistance doctrine as warrant exception); State v. Geraghty, 38 Kan. App. 2d 114, 123-24, 163 P.3d 350 (2007). The emergency assistance exception to the warrant requirement stands on a somewhat different legal footing than the "exigent circumstances." The exigent circumstances all entail conventional law enforcement functions related to taking individuals into custody or securing evidence. As stated, they require the officers have probable cause. The emergency assistance exception neither implicates that kind of law enforcement action nor requires probable cause. Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 403; Geraghty, 38 Kan. App. 2d at 122. The emergency assistance exception applies when a government agent enters a dwelling or other private place for the purpose of rendering emergency aid to a person in serious peril. The agent must have a reasonable factual basis to believe an emergency threatening life or property is imminent or ongoing and to believe the place entered is associated with that threat. The agent may not use the emergency as a subterfuge to effect a search for evidence or a seizure of a criminal suspect. 38 Kan. App. 2d at 123-24. This case does not implicate the emergency assistance doctrine.

III. State's Claimed Exigencies Insufficient

In this case, the State argues hot pursuit and preservation of evidence justified entering Dugan's home without first getting a warrant. We consider each of those bases in turn and find insufficient grounds to support a constitutional entry, a seizure of Dugan, or a search of him or the premises without a warrant. The United States Supreme Court has noted "the burden is on the government to demonstrate exigent circumstances that overcome the presumption of unreasonableness that attaches to all warrantless home entries." Welch, 466 U.S. at 750.

Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would limit and control free speech in drastically unimaginable ways.

Chaotic start to 9/11 hearings at Guantanamo Bay

The state did not prove the standardized policy for an inventory, so it fails in this case. The state does not have to rely on a statute, and policy is good enough. Although case law has not indicated the policy needs to be admitted into evidence, others have said that it is relevant. Berry v. State, 2012 Ind. App. LEXIS 216 (May 3, 2012). The court almost, but doesn’t quite, hold that the policy must be admitted. Considering the outcome, that is a logical conclusion:

Despite characterizing Officer Sherrell's testimony as describing the "primary operating procedure prior to towing a vehicle," the record lacks any evidence of Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department policy on impoundment. (Appellee's Br. p. 4). Thus, we cannot say whether Officer Sherrell's discretion to impound Berry's vehicle was in keeping with such policy. Furthermore, although the State argues that Berry has cited no case law for the proposition that a written law enforcement policy must be introduced into evidence to justify impoundment, we note that other cases have found formal policies relevant in justifying impoundment. See Peete v. State, 678 N.E.2d 415, 420 (Ind. Ct. App. 1997), trans. denied (Indianapolis Police Department policy on impoundment). Consequently, we conclude that the State failed to prove that an exception to the warrant requirement existed at the time of the inventory search of Berry's car.

Russian oil giant Rosneft signs a deal with Norway's Statoil to explore the sea around the Arctic.

Former Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Lembit Opik urges Nick Clegg to stand down from the party's top job to focus on being deputy prime minister.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican party leaders are starting to rally around Mitt Romney, but it's not exactly a stampede of support for the expected GOP presidential nominee....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican party leaders are starting to rally around Mitt Romney, but it's not exactly a stampede of support for the expected GOP presidential nominee....

BEIJING (AP) -- As a former U.S. commerce secretary and governor of Washington state, Gary Locke wasn't considered much of a heavyweight on human rights when he became the first Chinese-American ambassador to Beijing last year. Trade and maintaining smooth relations between Washington and its biggest foreign creditor were seen as dominating his agenda....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Senate is the newest arena in the election-year face-off over federal student loans, and both sides are starting out by pounding away at each other....