Supreme Court to Hear Simi Valley Search Case
Stepping into a long-running Simi Valley dispute, the U.S. Supreme Court today will examine the extent to which police can detain and question individuals while serving search warrants.
The case stems from a 1998 search by Simi Valley police for weapons at a suspected gang safe house after a drive-by shooting.
With guns drawn, nearly two dozen officers swarmed the Patricia Avenue home at dawn. They held four occupants in handcuffs for what they said was no more than two hours while the search was conducted. Resident Iris Mena, who was not a suspect, sued the city and police, claiming a violation of constitutional guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure.
A federal jury in Los Angeles agreed with Mena, awarding her $60,000 in damages, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling last year.
Now it is the Supreme Court's turn to hear arguments in a case with potentially broad ramifications. It will weigh law enforcement's ability to exercise control over dangerous situations against searches that could violate civil rights.
"It's a matter in dispute that has national importance," said Simi Valley City Atty. David Hirsch, who is among a handful of city officials and police officers in Washington, D.C., for the hearing.
"It has important consequences as far as police officer safety," he said. "We have believed from Day One that the officers used proper tactics given the circumstances: a high-risk search where they were going in looking for evidence of a violent crime."
But Duke Law School professor Erwin Chemerinsky, who will serve as co-counsel on behalf of Mena, said the jury verdict should stand.
"This was an 18-year-old woman who was held in handcuffs for between two and three hours when she was never for a moment suspected of anything," Chemerinsky said. "Her rights were violated."
According to court papers, Mena was asleep the morning of Feb. 3, 1998, when a SWAT team officer broke down her padlocked door, pointed his weapon at her and put her in handcuffs. She and three other occupants were brought to a furnished garage and remained there during the search. During that time, officers also questioned the occupants about their immigration status.
"I thought I was being robbed or something; I thought I was going to be killed," Mena said in an interview. "They didn't explain to us what was going on."
