California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Watkins, 26 Cal.App.4th 19, 31 Cal.Rptr.2d 452 (Cal. App. 1994):
"Doorway arrests"--where police without an arrest warrant knock on a door, then arrest the person who opens it--have been the subject of numerous cases, with widely differing results partly attributable to their particular facts. (See United States v. McCraw (4th Cir.1990) 920 F.2d 224, 228-230 and 229-230, fn. 5 [warrantless arrest inside hotel room unconstitutional where defendant opened door halfway in response to officers' knock, then tried to shut it], and cases cited; State v. Morse (1984) 125 N.H. 403, 480 A.2d 183, 185-187, and cases cited.) There are several unique factual wrinkles here, such as it was Munford's girlfriend, not Munford himself, who opened the door. 6
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