The circumstances leading up to the arrest of Allegheny County Controller Chelsa Wagner have raised questions about a person’s rights when staying at a hotel.

Wagner’s attorney, Charles Longstreet, argued this week during Wagner’s preliminary examination in Detroit that there’s nothing illegal about drinking in a hotel room, and police didn’t have a legal right to enter Wagner’s room.

Pittsburgh attorney Rob Peirce said hotel guests in essence sign a contract when they check into a hotel room.

“Generally speaking, a hotel guest is protected by the 4th Amendment from unreasonable search and seizures of their hotel room,” Peirce said. “One item that a hotel could evict you for is intoxication.”

Peirce says a hotel is allowed to ask for police assistance when they believe a guest in their hotel is intoxicated.

“The police oftentimes knock on the door and ask to speak to a guest,” said Peirce. “If the guest opens up the door and agrees to talk to the police and the police observe things in the room within plain sight or plain view, that can, in turn, allow a guest to be arrested. That’s not considered an infringement of your 4th Amendment rights.”

Detroit police arrested Wagner on March 6 at the Westin Book Cadillac Hotel. Wagner and her husband, Khari Mosley, were staying at the hotel while visiting the city on a belated Valentine’s Day trip.

In court Thursday, hotel employees said Mosley was “very irate” and “intoxicated” at the front desk while asking for access to a room before police were called. After confirming that Mosley was staying with Wagner, police escorted him to their room.

The door to the room was ajar and police knocked and announced themselves. Mosley eventually went into the room and police walked away.

Police said they returned to the room after hearing loud noises.

They handcuffed Mosley and Wagner was taken to jail after a confrontation.

A Detroit judge ruled there was enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial on one felony count of resisting and obstructing the police and a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

But did the Detroit Police have a legal right to enter the hotel room in the first place?

Duquesne University Law Professor Bruce Ledewitz said he’s not sure it matters whether the police had a right to enter Wagner’s hotel room.

“You can’t obstruct the police physically regardless of whether they have a legal right to be there,” Ledewitz said. “I mean — even if the police break into your house, you can’t physically interfere with them.”

Ledewitz added that if police hear noises inside a home indicating there is a danger to someone they can enter.

“That’s Criminal Law 101,” he said.

Wagner will next be in court for an April 25 arraignment in Wayne County Circuit Court.