State v. Derrick Brown, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong (070200)

Our Federal and State Constitutions protect the sanctity of the home from unreasonable searches by government officials. The constitutional protections afforded to the home make no distinction between a manor estate in an affluent town and a ramshackle hovel in an impoverished city. The occupants of both structures are clothed with the same constitutional rights. In both cases, the search of a home without a warrant is presumptively unreasonable, and the State therefore bears the burden of showing either that the defendant has no standing to challenge the search or that any such search falls…