Knock and Talk” Rule Further Defined by Court of Appeals

Posted Friday, March 6, 2015 by Andrew Charles Huff

The 1998 case of State v. Ferrier held that before entering a citizen’s home without a warrant, police must ask them for consent, inform them they can revoke consent and notify the citizen that they may limit the scope of the search. These are commonly referred to as the Ferrier Warnings and are used by police in situations where a police officer does not have a search warrant but instead intends to seek permission to enter and search a home. These warnings must be read in their entirety before a police officer requests entry into a home without a warrant.

But what happens when police fail to read all these warnings prior to entry but then reads all the warnings once they enter the home and begin to search it? The Court of Appeals in State v. Budd recently answered that question and held that a police officer mist read all the warnings before entering the home even if they read the full warnings after entry but before the search. In other words, a partial reading of these warnings is not sufficient even if fully read later.