Woman at center of 1961 Supreme Court case dies

FILE - In this undated file photo, Dollree Mapp is escorted into 105th precinct in New York. A woman who told police to come back with a warrant if they wanted to search her Ohio home in 1957, leading to a landmark Supreme Court case on police searches and seizures, has died. Dollree Mapp died Oct. 31 in Conyers, Ga. A relative and caretaker, Carolyn Mapp, confirmed her death Wednesday and said she died on the day after her birthday at the age of 91. (AP Photo, File) FILE - In this undated file photo, Dollree Mapp is escorted into 105th precinct in New York. A woman who told police to come back with a warrant if they wanted to search her Ohio home in 1957, leading to a landmark Supreme Court case on police searches and seizures, has died. Dollree Mapp died Oct. 31 in Conyers, Ga. A relative and caretaker, Carolyn Mapp, confirmed her death Wednesday and said she died on the day after her birthday at the age of 91. (AP Photo, File)

By Associated Press December 10, 2014 1 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – A woman who won a landmark 1961 Supreme Court case involving police searches and seizures has died.

When police wanted to search Dollree Mapp’s Ohio home in 1957, she told them to come back with a warrant. Her case ultimately prompted the nation’s high court to rule that evidence obtained by illegal searches and seizures could not be used in state court.

The case, Mapp v. Ohio, is a staple of law school textbooks and considered a milestone case on the Fourth Amendment, which requires law enforcement officers to get a warrant before conducting a search.

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