U.S. v. Henderson

In prosecution on charge of possession of firearm by drug user, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress evidence discovered by police during protective search of defendant’s home, after defendant had left his home and locked his front door just prior to his arrest. Protective sweep of defendant’s property was proper, where: (1) police SWAT team received report of hostage situation that had been validated by text messages from victim indicating that victim was being held hostage within defendant’s home; (2) victim indicated that defendant possessed gun, but no weapon was on his person at time of his arrest; (3) defendant waited for one hour to leave his home after police had demanded that all occupants leave defendant’s home; and (4) police held reasonable belief that armed and dangerous individual still remanded in defendant’s home at time of his arrest.