Mario Watkins v. State of Indiana

On Petition to Transfer from the Indiana Court of Appeals, No. 82A01-1510-CR-1624

Rush, Chief Justice.

Evansville police executed a search warrant at Mario Watkins’s home with a flash-bang grenade, battering ram, and a dozen heavily armed SWAT officers. Once inside, they found cocaine, marijuana,, and a gun. Watkins argues that the intrusive entry violated the Indiana Constitution and that the search warrant was unsupported by probable cause under the Federal Constitution.

For the state constitutional analysis, we apply our well-established Litchfield test and hold that Evansville police did not…