Mapp V. Ohio Case Brief

Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 1081, 81 S. Ct. 1684, 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081 (1961)

Facts: On May 23rd, 1957, three Cleveland police officers arrived at the home of Mrs. Mapp with information that ‘a person was hiding out in the home, who was wanted for questioning in connection with a recent bombing, and that there was a large amount of policy paraphernalia being hidden in the home’. Mrs. Mapp and her daughter lived on the top floor of the two-family dwelling. Upon their arrival at that house, the officers knocked on the door and demanded entrance but Mrs. Map telephoned her attorney who told her not to let them in without a search warrant. Three hours later more officers arrived and they again sought entrance into the home. When she didn’t come to the door immediately at least one of several doors was forced open and the policemen gained admittance. She demanded to see a search warrant and the officers flashed a piece of paper in which she grabbed and put in her blouse. A struggle ensued and she was arrested. Officers entered the home and found the obscene materials. Mrs. Mapp was convicted of knowingly having had in her possession and under her control certain lewd and lascivious books and pictures unlawfully seized during an unlawful search of the defendant’s home.
Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Ohio found that her conviction was valid though ‘based primarily upon the introduction in evidence of lewd and lascivious books and pictures unlawfully seized during an unlawful search of the defendant’s