To Kill A Mockingbird Case Study

Facts: On July 13, 2007, Jennifer Lee called police officers and reported hearing a loud pitch that sounded like a dog crying, as if he/she were in pain, coming from her neighbor Chung’s house. Officers arrived to Chungs house and asked him if he had any dogs and if they could search his home. Chung denied owning any pets and also denied the entry of the officers into his house. While officers spoke with Chung outside of his house, one of them claimed to hear a sob coming from Chungs house. Believing that an animal was in danger, the two police officers entered Chungs home without a search warrant. Once officers entered the home, they found an injured dog in the patio and another dead dog in the freezer. Chung believes all evidence found by the officers should be suppressed after they violated his fourth …show more content…
On appeal previous cases were brought up. One was The people v. Thornton case, in which a police officer entered a home without a warrant after a neighbor reported hearing a dog crying. The officer entered the home without a warrnt to check on the stability of the dog under suspicion that it was not ok. The court ruled that the officer had the exception to enter the home because there was evidence form the neighbor that a dog could have possible be in trouble and there for the officer reacted like a reasonably prudent person would have. Chung used this case to argue that there was an exception in the Thornton case because the condition of the dog had previously been known by the neighbors observation. Which his claim does little to help him because Chung’s neighbor mentioned that she too had previously heard a dog crying inside Chungs home. With the evidence of the neighbor and the officer who heard the dog cry the court ruled that it was sufficient evidence to make an exception for a search