Editors’ Note: This item has been updated to reflect a Correction.
A sentencing court did not exceed its authority when it expanded the conditions of a defendant’s probation to allow the warrantless search of his home, a split state appeals court has ruled. In January 2009, Acting Supreme Court Justice Denis J. Boyle in the Bronx (See Profile) granted a request by the Department of Probation to enlarge the conditions of Jorge Pagan’s five-year probation term. Justice Boyle held that the agency could engage in sporadic, nondestructive “knock-and-announce” searches, provided they took place at “reasonable hours” when Mr. Pagan was at home. Mr. Pagan challenged the order, arguing that the department should not be allowed to search his residence over his objection without reasonable cause.
