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SUPREME COURT CASE: SHOULD POLICE KNOCK BEFORE ENTERING?

SCOTUS graphic January 13, 1998 Web posted at: 2:14 p.m. EST (1914 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court was being asked Tuesday to decide whether law enforcement officers should ring the doorbell or knock before entering a building if they sense danger.

The case focuses on a 1994 incident in Oregon. Hernan Ramirez fired his gun after police broke in his garage window after they received a tip that a fugitive was in the Ramirez house. It was a tip that turned out to be wrong.

Ramirez fired his gun without knowing that those intruding were law officers, and once he realized who the intruders were he surrendered.

"The police fire back a fusillade of fire, screaming 'police! police!' -- this is the first time Mr. Ramirez realizes that the police are there," said public defender Michael R. Levine.

Even though Ramirez was not the fugitive that police had been looking for, they still arrested Ramirez on weapons charges since, as a convicted felon, he was not permitted to possess a gun.

A federal judge later ruled that the police search had been unconstitutional. The federal government then brought the case to the Supreme Court, arguing that the increased danger in that particular case had warranted the window-shattering no-knock entry into the Ramirez building.

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