CANIGLIA V. STROM

Warrantless Search and Seizure Of Firearms

by Bob Walsh

This issue will come up before Scotus in about six weeks.  The basic question of the action is whether or not warrantless searches and seizures of weapons from INSIDE A PRIVATE HOME are defacto unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment.

There are a few exceptions that are generally recognized as "community caretaking."  Under Jones V. United States the court held that the cops could search the trunk of a towed car following an accident.  (This is clearly necessary to inventory contents.)  The court also clearly recognized that there is a constitutional difference between a house and a car.  

This particular case involves Edward A. Caniglia.  On August 20, 2015 Mr. Caniglia had a beef in their house with his wife.  In order to punctuate his side of the argument Mr. Caniglia went into the bedroom and retrieved a handgun.  The gun was not loaded, though Mrs. Caniglia did not know that at the time.  During the course of the argument Mr. Caniglia said something along the lines of "Shoot me now and get it over with."  He later asserted that his was merely a dramatic gesture.  Mrs. Caniglia asserted that she took the statement seriously.  

At that time Mr. Caniglia left the house.  Then Mrs. Caniglia took up the gun and discovered it was unloaded.  She then took the magazine out of it and hid the gun.  Mr. Caniglia returned to the house, the argument continued, and Mrs. Caniglia left the home and stayed the night at a hotel.

The next day Mrs. Caniglia called the home and no one answered the phone.  She then called the cops and requested a welfare check and a police escort to the house.  The cops went to the house and spoke with Caniglia while his wife waited in a police car.  Caniglia endorsed Mrs. Caniglia's retelling of the incident but denied that he was suicidal, merely that he was tired of the arguments.  The two officers at the scene had differing opinions of Mr. Caniglia's mental state at the time.  Mr. Caniglia agreed to accompany the cops to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation on the promise by the cops they would not seize his weapons.  

Mr. Caniglai was evaluated and was NOT admitted by the hospital.  The cops seized his weapons while he was gone and refused to return them.  Both Mr. Caniglia and Mrs. Caniglia attempted to retreive the weapons.  No luck.  Mr. Caniglia's lawyer wrote a letter to the Chief of Police.  The cops still refused to return the weapons.  

At that time Caniglia sued.  The cops then returned the weapons.  

The question now is whether or not the original seizure of the weapons was a violation of Mr. Caniglia's rights against unreasonable search and seziure or was in fact reasonable under the "community caretaking" exception.  .