U.S. Supreme Court Gives Officers Immunity In Weapon Search

Police were looking for Millender's foster son, Jerry Ray Bowen, who had recently shot at his ex-girlfriend Shelly Kelly with a black sawed-off shotgun. Kelly told police that Bowen might be at his foster mother's house, so Messerschmidt got a warrant to look for any weapons on the property and gang-related material, since Bowen was supposed to be a member of the Mona Park Crips and the Dodge Park Crips.

The detective had his supervisors approve the warrant before submitting to the district attorney and a judge, who also approved the warrant, reports the Associated Press .

The deputies had seized the 73-year-old Millender's home-defense shotgun and gang-related material, which wasn't a match with the shotgun used by Bowen.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Wednesday in favor of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's detective who recovered a firearm and gang-related material from the home of a suspect's foster mother.

In Messerschmidt v. Millender , the court granted qualified immunity to Det. Curt Messerschmidt and other police officials who searched the home of August Millender.