COLUMBUS — A man whom police saw driving erratically through Middletown ignored orders to stop and fled into his house. An officer entered without a warrant and arrested him.

        The Ohio Supreme Court now must decide whether the arrest of Thomas E. Flinchum Jr. violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. A decision is expected within three months.

        Mr. Flinchum's lawyer argues that his client initially was suspected of misdemeanor crimes, and officers may enter homes without a warrant only in felony cases in which probable cause or emergency circumstances exist. The lawyer, Chris Pagan, has asked the Supreme Court to rule whether being suspected of misdemeanors rises to the level of emergency circumstances.

        “The more trivial the offense the more weighty the privacy issue is in home security,” Mr. Pagan said. “It's disproportionate to the idea that your home is your sanctuary.”

        Prosecutors say the issue is not whether the case is a misdemeanor or felony but where the suspect's flight began.

        The U.S. Supreme Court held in 1976 that officers are entitled to make a warrantless entry into a person's house to complete an arrest that began in a public place.

        The Fourth Amendment “was never meant to give fleeing criminals an incentive to race to their homes as quickly as possible to evade a valid police pursuit,” prosecutors said in written arguments.

        “It's certainly not our position a misdemeanor justifies a warrantless entry into a home absent hot pursuit,” State Solicitor David Gormley, who argued the case before the Ohio Supreme Court, said Tuesday. “One of the critical features is that the pursuit was communicated to him. He was openly defying police.”

        Court records show that early April 23, 1999, two Middletown police officers watched as Mr. Flinchum twice stopped his car at intersections and then accelerated quickly, spinning the car's tires and causing the car to weave out of control.

        After Mr. Flinchum got out of the car near his home, the officers stopped to talk to him but, upon seeing them, Mr. Flinchum began running toward his house. One officer, Wayne Birch, repeatedly yelled “Stop!” and “Police!” and chased Mr. Flinchum through yards, according to testimony.

        Mr. Flinchum entered his home and Officer Birch followed, arresting Mr. Flinchum on misdemeanor charges of reckless operation and resisting arrest. Mr. Flinchum was charged with drunken driving, a felony, after Officer Birch noticed evidence in the house that showed he was intoxicated.

        Mr. Flinchum, a Middletown contractor, asked the Middletown Municipal Court to throw out that evidence. The judge denied the request, saying the entry was lawful because police were in “hot pursuit” of Mr. Flinchum.

        Mr. Flinchum was convicted of reckless operation and drunken driving but was acquitted of resisting arrest.

        The 12th Ohio District Court of Appeals agreed with the judge. However, the appeals court asked the Ohio Supreme Court to clarify whether the Fourth Amendment allows a warrantless entry into a home if police are going after a person they suspect of a misdemeanor.

        “It's just an issue of how much authority the police have,” Mr. Pagan said. “The home is special when it comes to warrantless entries and the U.S. Supreme Court and state appeals courts have held just that.”

        Mr. Gormley said the Ohio Supreme Court must rule on the misdemeanor issue because several appeals courts in Ohio have ruled differently.

        David Harris, a professor of law at the University of Toledo who specializes in the Fourth Amendment, said the U.S. Supreme Court has historically given homes a high level of protection.

        Still, he said, the high court has made some exceptions to the rule that police must have a warrant to enter homes. In the 1976 case, which is called United States v. Santana, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that suspects shouldn't be able to flee into their homes to shield themselves, Mr. Harris said.

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