City of North Las Vegas, Nevada, et al. v. Genoa Jones, et al.

A suspect fled upon North Las Vegas police officers responding to a domestic violence call. Based on information known at the time, including visible injuries to the alleged victim, as well as the suspect’s history of violent crimes and outstanding arrest warrants, officers immediately set up a line-of-sight perimeter and called in a K-9 (police dog) unit to help locate the suspect. Upon the K-9 alerting to a scent approximately 18 minutes after the suspect fled, and based on the exigent circumstances, officers entered a backyard approximately four houses away from the victim’s residence. Three pitbull mix dogs emerged. Two of them attacked the K-9 and officer. The officer shot and killed the attacking pitbulls, and the pitbulls’ owners sued the City and two of its police officers. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s finding of qualified immunity on the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment unreasonable search claim based on a single, factually distinct circuit case. The questions presented are:

1. Whether the officers’ warrantless search of a backyard in close proximity to the domestic violence victim’s residence was a lawful “hot pursuit” when the suspect’s trail was temporarily lost within the perimeter for approximately eighteen minutes but recovered through immediate and continuous police efforts.

2. Whether, even if the search did not qualify as a “hot pursuit,” the officers were entitled to qualified immunity because no “clearly established law” was violated.