HIGH COURT CASE TESTS POLICE POWER IN SEARCHING HOMES FOR DRUGS

The police had the right instincts about Charles McArthur, as even he
admits. There were drugs in his home and, given the opportunity, he would
have flushed them down the toilet or otherwise made sure the cops couldn't
find them.

McArthur didn't get the chance because police wouldn't let him go into his
own house alone for the two hours it took to get a search warrant.
Predictably, he was arrested as soon as Illinois police got the warrant and
found the stash.

More than three years later, McArthur's lawyer told the Supreme Court
yesterday that police were out of bounds and that McArthur's temporary
eviction was unconstitutional.

The case made for colorful courtroom discussion, with several justices
seeming to side with the police. "It seems to me here the officers did
everything by the book," said Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The case is one of several the court has taken recently that examine the
limits of police powers to hunt for drugs.

The court has heard arguments this year in a case that tests how far police
may go in detaining motorists at checkpoints while they search vehicles for
drugs. The justices will hear another case later in the term involving a
man arrested for growing marijuana after police outside his home monitored
heat generated by special lamps and equipment inside his garage.

The McArthur case pits an individual's right to come and go from his home
against police power to preserve evidence of a crime.

McArthur fought the misdemeanor charge of possessing less than 2.5 grams of
marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and lower courts agreed with him.

"I think it was definitely wrong to tell somebody they can't go back in
their house unless the police is with them," McArthur said in an interview.
"I think they need to have a clearer law on what they can and can't do."

John Love, the assistant police chief in Sullivan, Ill., said McArthur's
rights were not violated. "I chose to do it the right way, the best way for
everybody--and the fairest way to him," he said.

The case began April 2, 1997, when McArthur's estranged wife arranged for
police to wait outside the couple's trailer while she moved out. When she
left, she told police her husband had marijuana under a couch.

Love knocked on the trailer door and confronted McArthur. McArthur came
outside, denied his wife's accusation and would not let police inside
without a warrant.

Love dispatched an officer to get a warrant, and refused to allow McArthur
to re-enter the trailer without an officer. Arthur has since testified that
if he had entered alone, he would have destroyed the evidence.

"My guys went out of their way to respect Mr. McArthur's rights. That's the
least restrictive thing they could have done and performed their jobs,"
said Moultrie County State's Attorney Tim Willis.