Opinion ID: 796724
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Exigency at the Time of the Entries

Text: 72 The pivotal question, consequently, becomes whether any or all of the entries for the purpose of arresting or seizing Fisher occurred at a time when any exigency had passed — that is, when it would have been possible to attempt to obtain a warrant without causing a dangerous delay. We conclude that there was insufficient evidence of such exigency for some time before the first CS gas canisters were thrown, so the failure to obtain a warrant before then is not excusable. 73 We have used a nonexhaustive list of criteria first enunciated in Dorman v. United States, 435 F.2d 385, 392-93 (D.C.Cir.1970) (en banc), to determine whether circumstances meet the dangerousness prong of the exigency requirement. See United States v. Blake, 632 F.2d 731, 733 (9th Cir.1980). 17 Those criteria are: (1) that a grave offense is involved; (2) that the suspect is reasonably believed to be armed; (3) there exists a clear showing of probable cause; (4) that there is a strong reason to believe the suspect is in the premises; (5) that there is a likelihood that the suspect will escape; and (6) that peaceable entry is made onto the premises. See Dorman, 435 F.2d at 392-93. Here, the Dorman factors suggest no clear result: Fisher was armed, he concedes probable cause, and he was definitely on the premises; but no grave offense was involved in this case, he was not likely to escape, and the entry was not peaceable. 74 The jury — which was not specifically instructed on the Dorman factors, but had before it evidence concerning each of them — must have determined that sufficiently dangerous circumstances existed at some point, as it found that the arrest was not unlawful. Such a determination is reasonable. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the City, the officers were certainly justified in considering Fisher a danger both to themselves and to the public. He was intoxicated, rambling about his Second Amendment rights, carrying a rifle and sometimes pointing it at police officers, tinkering repeatedly with seventeen more rifles, and making threatening comments. He was certainly not a man who could be counted on to remain peaceful. That is true after 6:30 a.m. as well as before. 75 Exigency, however, requires more than the dangerous circumstances that Dorman contemplates. See United States v. Good, 780 F.2d 773, 775 (9th Cir.1986) (Exigent circumstances alone, however, are insufficient as the government must also show that a warrant could not have been[safely] obtained in time.). 18 It is not determinative of the exigency issue that, as the City argues, Fisher continued to present an imminent threat of danger to the officers and the community despite the fact that he had not been seen for a period of time. Although the degree of danger is directly related to whether a warrant could have been obtained — such that the more dangerous the circumstances, the less likely the police can safely obtain a warrant without compromising their peacekeeping duties — danger alone cannot justify a warrantless entry for the purpose of effectuating an arrest. Instead, we require that the government [separately] demonstrate[ ] that a warrant could not have been obtained in time. Manfredi, 722 F.2d at 522. 76 Here, there is no such showing. The evidence undisputedly shows that there were enough officers working on Fisher's case, with enough time to obtain a warrant before the police sent the first of the CS gas canisters into Fisher's apartment. 77 Before 7 a.m., Fisher had been seen pointing a rifle at the officers, the action relied upon as providing probable cause for the later arrest. At least some of the officers who had observed the worst of Fisher's behavior left the scene at 7 a.m. and returned to the station house, where they or their colleagues could have initiated warrant proceedings. By 1 p.m., many officers had been at Fisher's apartment complex for several hours. There, too, officers could have initiated warrant proceedings by telephone. Such a warrant would have covered the entries effected in the afternoon and the seizures and final arrest thereafter. 78 Unlike the one-hour delay in seizing a suspect's house that we considered in Lindsey, the delay the officers faced at Fisher's apartment complex was neither unexpected, caused by lack of additional assistance, nor, comparatively, short. See 877 F.2d at 782. Indeed, here there was considerably more time and more opportunity to obtain a warrant than there was in Alvarez, in which we concluded that the police should have sought a warrant. 79 In Alvarez, there was a potentially armed and dangerous drug dealer in a hotel room, whom police suspected was growing increasingly suspicious that his agents had not returned from a drug deal. We determined, however, that even in such serious circumstances, the officers could have attempted to obtain a telephonic warrant in the ninety minutes to two hours before the agents returned. See 810 F.2d at 881-83. 80 We thus conclude that on the record before us, the only reasonable conclusion is that although the situation certainly remained dangerous, there was sufficient police presence and sufficient time after probable cause was established that an arrest warrant could have been obtained well before one or more of the entries that led to Fisher's seizure. Although our dissenting colleague maintains, quite sensibly, that the danger created by Fisher's action did not dissipate until he succumbed, she fails entirely to address the second prong of the inquiry — whether the police had enough time and manpower to seek a warrant during the extended standoff and before one or more of the successive entries. Because there was such opportunity, the failure to obtain a warrant by early afternoon — before 1 p.m. at the very latest — was unconstitutional. 19