Memo and Podcast: IPG #50 (LANGE V. CALIFORNIA- SCOTUS ON HOT PURSUIT)

This edition of the Inquisitive Prosecutor’s Guide discusses the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Lange v. California (2021) 141 S.Ct. 2011, a case deciding the issue of whether the flight of a suspected misdemeanant will always justify a warrantless entry by police into a home when they are in hot pursuit of a suspected misdemeanant who has just fled inside a home.

IPG attempts to figure out what the current state of the law is regarding the “hot pursuit” exception to the warrant requirement and provide answers to some questions left open or unclear by the decision in Lange.

Our guest on the podcast accompanying this IPG is Sonoma County Deputy District Attorney Robert Maddock. DDA Maddock argued the case of Lange when it was still in the superior court appellate division and subsequently wrote an amicus brief on behalf of his office and the California District Attorney’s Association when the ca se got to the High Court.