When Police Are Called To A House
W. Va. Code § 48-27-1002 — an arrest without a warrant on corroborating evidence, and weapons seized
Without a warrant. For a domestic battery or assault against a family or household member, an officer may arrest without a warrant after observing credible corroborative evidence, together with an allegation from the victim or a witness, or credible evidence the accused did it.
Credible corroborative evidence is evidence worthy of belief that matches one or more elements of the offense. The person arrested is taken before a magistrate in the county.
The arresting officer seizes all weapons alleged to have been used or threatened, and may seize one in plain view or found in a consensual search.
The Fourth Amendment draws its firmest line at the entrance to a home, and the Supreme Court of the United States has held where it falls in situations police meet at a door. Absent consent or exigent circumstances, officers may not enter a home without a warrant to make a routine felony arrest. Where one occupant consents to a search of a shared home and another who is physically present expressly refuses, the search is unreasonable as to the one who refused. And officers may enter without a warrant when they have an objectively reasonable basis for believing someone inside is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Whether a particular entry or arrest was lawful is a question for a licensed West Virginia attorney.
Sources for this section (4)
- W. Va. Code § 48-27-1002 — Arrest in domestic violence matters; conditions
- Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573 (1980) — Warrantless entry into a home to make a routine arrest is barred
- Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103 (2006) — A present occupant's refusal defeats another occupant's consent
- Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398 (2006) — Police may enter to render emergency aid
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed West Virginia attorney.