What is the test for obtaining a warrant to enter a person's home?

The Fourth Amendment requires law enforcement officers to obtain a warrant before entering a citizen's home. (See, e.g., Payton v. New York (1980) 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639; People v. Ramey (1976) 16 Cal.3d 263, 127 Cal.Rptr. 629, 545 P.2d 1333.) One of the few exceptions to this rule--and the one the trial court invoked in this case--is the so-called "hot pursuit" doctrine. As the term suggests, this exception dispenses with the warrant requirement when officers are chasing a suspect who is in active flight. The justification is that otherwise he might escape again while the police sit around waiting for the warrant to be issued.