United States v. Bernardino Acevedo

HARLINGTON WOOD, Jr., Circuit Judge.

On February 23,1979, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration forcibly entered Bernardino Acevedo’s apartment without a warrant and therein arrested him. On April 15, 1980, the United States Supreme Court held violative of the fourth amendment warrantless nonconsensual entries to effect in-home arrests in the ab sence of exigent circumstances. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). Consequently, the issue we face is whether the agents entered Acevedo’s apartment under circumstances that may properly be characterized as…