Bumpers' Legal Insights

KEY-TEST SEARCHES AND A CIRCUIT SPLIT

In the 2017 groundbreaking ruling, the First Circuit Court of Appeals set a new precedent for the constitutional rights of individuals against unreasonable searches based on key-test searches. A key-test search is the practice of law enforcement officers to use the keys taken from an arrestee to unlock the front door of nearby residences in order to determine which home is that of the arrestee. This type of search may occur with or without a warrant.

The most recent publicized example of this type of search occurred in Massachusetts with a man named Yrvens Bain. Bain was a drug dealer, recently released from prison. The police obtained a warrant for his arrest and arrested Bain outside of his building where he and multiple people had apartments. Not knowing which apartment was his, officers took Bain’s keys and tried them in several door locks before concluding he lived in Unit D. Lacking any belief that anyone else was in the apartment or that anything in the apartment presented a threat, the officers entered nonetheless to conduct a protective sweep, during the course of which they found incriminating evidence, The officers then applied for and obtained a federal search warrant to re-enter and search Unit D. It was later determined that Unit D was the apartment of Bain’s girlfriend. At trial, the government conceded there was no legal basis for the protective sweep, but maintained, with some precedent, that testing the key into several locks, including Bain’s, was not a search entitled to Constitutional protection.

However, on appeal the First Circuit Court of Appeals found that it was a Constitutional violation to place the key into the lock of Bain’s door because it was a “search” that required a warrant. The case of Yrvens Bain, who challenged his conviction in the First Circuit, highlighted the division among lower courts on the issue. The court held that the key-test conducted by law enforcement was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment, thus creating a circuit split (when two or more circuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals reach different decisions on the same legal issue) over the reasonableness of a warrantless key-test search.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees individuals the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, houses, papers, and effects, if there is a legitimate expectation of privacy in the place or item searched. The Supreme Court has emphasized the sanctity of the home, stating that “the home is first among equals” and that individuals have the right to retreat into their homes and be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.

The court’s decision in Bain’s case has set the stage for a heated debate over the reasonableness of key-test searches. The First Circuit established that a residential door lock is entitled to Fourth Amendment protection, making key-tests searches unreasonable under the common law trespass test. The ruling in Bain’s case has implications for law enforcement practices across the country. It has raised questions about the validity of key-test searches and has sparked a call for a resolution to the circuit split over the constitutionality of these searches.

In conclusion, the First Circuits decision in Bain v. United States has set a new standard for protecting individuals against warrantless key-test searches, signaling a shift in the legal landscape surrounding the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable searches and seizures.