On the Job 

Homicide investigators arrive at a suspect’s home and identify a murder scene. Also present when they arrive are officers guarding both the scene and the suspect. Can the home, including cupboards, drawers, and closets that are all inaccessible to the suspect, be searched? The answer is no, even though many believe that the urgency of the situation gives rise to a “homicide exception” to the warrant requirement.  

It is well-known that warrantless searches of a home are unconstitutional unless they fall into one of a few specific exceptions, such as rendering emergency aid or hot pursuit. According to the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona v. Mincey, no “homicide exception” exists to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.
 
Expounding on its holding, the court found that even in a homicide investigation, the instant facts give “no indication that evidence [will] be lost, destroyed, or removed during the time required to obtain a search warrant.” In other words, before you go searching cupboards and pulling up carpets, you need to get a warrant unless the scene will be compromised if you wait.
  
In the same vein as Chimel v. California, the Mincey court ruled that an individual arrested in his dwelling does not have “a lessened right of privacy in his entire house.” Seizing items found in closets, drawers, and cupboards is much different than seizing items in plain view when you are lawfully in a private dwelling. Deciding whether there is probable cause to perform a more extensive search of the dwelling rests with a judge. Otherwise, you risk the exclusion of evidence found in the search. 
 
However, no Fourth Amendment warrant requirement prohibits law enforcement officers from making warrantless entries when they reasonably believe they will find someone in need of emergency assistance.