Dollree Mapp dies at 91; center of Supreme Court search, seizure case

Dollree Mapp, a woman who stood up to police trying to search her Ohio home in 1957 and ultimately won a landmark Supreme Court decision on searches and seizures, has died.

Mapp died Oct. 31 in Conyers, Ga. A relative and caretaker, Carolyn Mapp, confirmed her death Wednesday and said she died the day after her birthday at the age of 91.

Her Supreme Court case, Mapp vs. Ohio, is a staple of law school textbooks and considered a milestone case on the 4th Amendment, which requires law enforcement officers to get a warrant before conducting a search. The ruling curbed the power of police by saying evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures could not be used in state court.

Mapp’s path to the U.S. Supreme Court began May 23, 1957, when three Cleveland police officers arrived at her home. They believed that a person wanted for questioning was hiding there. The officers demanded to enter, but Mapp refused to let them in without a search warrant. More officers later arrived and police forced open a door, according to a summary of the case in the Supreme Court opinion.

When the officers confronted Mapp, one held up a piece of paper, claiming it was a warrant, and Mapp snatched it away. After a struggle, an officer got the paper back, Mapp was handcuffed for being “belligerent,” and officers searched her home. They didn’t find the person they were looking for, but they did find some pornographic books and pictures. At the time, an Ohio law made having obscene material a crime, and Mapp was convicted, though she said the materials belonged to a former boarder. Prosecutors never produced a search warrant at trial.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court overturned Mapp’s conviction in a 6-3 decision, ruling in 1961 that illegally obtained evidence could not be used in state court. The court had previously ruled that this was the case in federal court, but Mapp’s case broadened the protection by extending the exclusionary rule to states, where the vast majority of criminal prosecutions take place.

A full obituary will follow at latimes.com/obits.