Mapp v. Ohio case

Police in Shaker Heights, Ohio on May 23, 1957 went to Dollree Mapp's house in search for organized criminals Don King & Shondor Birns involved in a rackets scheme & bombing of Don King's home three days before. Sgt. Carl Delau along with two patrolmen came to Mapp's house & asked if they could come in. Delau wanted to talk to her about a matter relating to their civic business. Mapp wished to speak with her lawyers Alexander Kearns & Walter Greene, who has representated her in a lawsuit against Archie Moore. Mapp was advised not to let police in without a valid warrant. Delau refused to produce the warrant after Mapp demanded he do so. Police were searching for virgil Ogletree. For hours, numerous police officers were trying to get past a stubborn Dollree Mapp in search of the suspects Ogletree & Don King. After three hours, police found obscene material that was illegal & arrested Mapp. Her lawyer Greene was outside the house trying to help her but police had arrested her after finding unrelated contraband.

Mapp was charged with misdemeanor gambling, possession of betting slips, & felony obscenity charge of possessing obscene literature. She was tried & acquitted of the gambling misdemeanor one month after her arrest. Her felony obscenity trial began on September 3, 1958 in a Cuyahoga County Court in Cleveland. Before the trial, Judge Donald Lybarger ruled that the evidence against Mapp could be used against her regardless of the validity of the police's search warrant. The prosecution called sgt. Delau & patrolman Michael Haney who testified that while searching for Virgil Ogletree they found obscene material. Mapp's defense attorney Alexander Kearns cross examined Delau & called Greene as a defense witness who searched the house from outside. Unfortunetely for Mapp, the jury convicted her & Judge Lybarger sentenced her to seven years in the Ohio Reformatory for Women.

The issue of the Exclusionary Rule dates back to Weeks v. United States in 1914 in which the court ruled unanimously with Justice William Day writing the opinion that the exclusionary rule applied to federal law enforcement. Justice Benjamin Cardozo criticized the exclusionary rule stating "Why should the criminal go free just because the constable blundered?" In 1928, Justice Louis Brandeis stated

"If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the end justifies the meansto declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminalwould bring terrible retribution."

Regardless, two-thirds of all states believed they had the authority to ignore the exclusionary rule.

Mapp's lawyer Alexander Kearns appealed the case & Judge Lybarger granted Mapp $2,500 bond while she was appealing. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled against Mapp but she was released again on $8,000 bond after her lawyer filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court. Kearns based his arguements on the Fourth, Fifth, & Fourteenth amendments stating that Cleveland Police disregarded her human rights.

Oral arguments were heard in Mapp v. Ohio on March 29, 1961 with Chief Justice Earl Warren & Associate Justices by seniority Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Tom Clark, John Harlan II, William Brennan, Charles Whittaker, & Potter Stewart. Arguing for the plaintiff Dollree Mapp was Alexander Kearns with Bernard Berkman arguing on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union an an amici curiae appellant. Gertrude Bauer Mahon argued on behalf of the appellee the State of Ohio. The case Mapp sought to overturn was Wolf v. Colorado which rule in 1949 that the exclusionary rule did not apply to the states. That decision was written by Justice Felix Frankfurter.

On June 19, 1961, the US Supreme Court ruled by 6-3 vote that the exclusionary rule did apply to the states & that Dollree Mapp's conviction was null & void. Justice Tom C. Clark, writing for the opinion of the court stated "Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence." Clark was joined by Chief Justice Earl Warren & Associate Justices Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, & William Brennan. Justice Potter Stewart wrote a seperate opinion stating that Ohio's obscenity laws were unconstitutional, violating the first amendment. Justices John Harlan II wrote the dissenting opinion joined by justices Felix Frankfurter & Charles Whittaker stating that the majority overstepped their boundries by overturning Wolf v. Colorado without lega justification since Kearns stated that Wolf v. Colorado was not an issue.

Mapp v. Ohio stated that prosecutions could not use evidence seized illegally. However, the exclusionary rule would be narrowed down such as United States v. Leon in 1984 which ruled that the exclusionary rule does not apply when police acted in good faith. Law enforcement & prosecutors view Mapp v. Ohio in a negative view, seeing it as a handicapp & burdon on the criminal justice system.