930
Opinion of the Court
charged with delivery of marijuana, delivery of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of marijuana.
Before trial, petitioner filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized during the search. Petitioner asserted that the search was invalid on various grounds, including that the officers had failed to "knock and announce" before entering her home. The trial court summarily denied the suppression motion. After a jury trial, petitioner was convicted of all charges and sentenced to 32 years in prison.
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed petitioner's conviction on appeal. 317 Ark. 548, 878 S. W. 2d 755 (1994). The court noted that "the officers entered the home while they were identifying themselves," but it rejected petitioner's argument that "the Fourth Amendment requires officers to knock and announce prior to entering the residence." Id., at 553, 878 S. W. 2d, at 758 (emphasis added). Finding "no authority for [petitioner's] theory that the knock and announce principle is required by the Fourth Amendment," the court concluded that neither Arkansas law nor the Fourth Amendment required suppression of the evidence. Ibid.
We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict among the lower courts as to whether the common-law knock and announce principle forms a part of the Fourth Amendment reasonableness inquiry.1 513 U. S. 1014 (1995). We hold that it does, and accordingly reverse and remand.
1 See, e. g., People v. Gonzalez, 211 Cal. App. 3d 1043, 1048, 259 Cal. Rptr. 846, 848 (1989) ("Announcement and demand for entry at the time of service of a search warrant [are] part of Fourth Amendment reasonableness"); People v. Saechao, 129 Ill. 2d 522, 531, 544 N. E. 2d 745, 749 (1989) ("[T]he presence or absence of such an announcement is an important consideration in determining whether subsequent entry to arrest or search is constitutionally reasonable") (internal quotation marks omitted); Commonwealth v. Goggin, 412 Mass. 200, 202, 587 N. E. 2d 785, 787 (1992) ("Our knock and announce rule is one of common law which is not constitutionally compelled").
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