Dog Sniff In Shared Apartment Hall Was ‘Search’

Police officers violated the Fourth Amendment when they walked a drug-detection dog up to a suspect’s door in the common hallway of an apartment building and used the dog’s “alert” to secure a search warrant, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled April 12 (United States v. Whitaker, 2016 BL 113879, 7th Cir., 14-3290, 4/12/16).

The case is significant because this is the first time a federal circuit court has extended the dog-sniff rule from Florida v. Jardines, 81 U.S.L.W. 4209, 2013 BL 79684 81 U.S.L.W. 1383, 4/2/13, 92 CrL 781, 3/27/13, to the apartment hallway scenario.

Jardines ...