The Indiana Supreme Court will hear an interesting case that tests the limits on exceptions to the Constitution's unreasonable search & seizure provisions. East Chicago police went to the wrong apartment when searching for a suspect and arrested the man in the apartment when they found cocaine there. A Lake County court ruled the officers' entry was legal, and the Court of Appeals upheld the decision (ruling detailed here). My layman's guess is that the Supreme Court will also rule in favor of police. Here's the Cornell University Law School on exceptions to the warrant requirement:
Officers can also search and seize objects on a person if the officer has placed the person under arrest. This exception extends to situations in which the police in good-faith mistakenly arrest the wrong suspect and seize contraband during the search. If a suspect, either during a traffic stop or otherwise, makes a furtive gesture, the gesture justifies a limited warrantless police intrusion.
Courts overturn bad-faith searches and seizures not just to protect the rights of the individual suspects involved but to discourage such behavior by police in the future. But police here seemed to have acted in good faith, and their mistake led to a legitimate bust.
