Johnson v. Commonwealth

James Edward Johnson was convicted in the court below of possessing marijuana with intent to distribute this drug. We granted him a writ of error limited to a consideration of whether the action of the police officers in failing to announce and identify themselves before forcibly entering defendant’s apartment constituted an unreasonable search and seizure.

On January 12, 1971 Roanoke city police officers, armed with a search warrant, entered defendant’s apartment by knocking open its door with a sledge hammer. The police did not knock on the door, identify themselves or make any announcement…