Opinion ID: 2378566
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Improper execution of the search warrant.

Text: The defendant says that Rule 41 (d) was not complied with, in that the officer taking property under the warrant did not give to him from whose premises the property was taken a receipt for the property taken while on the premises and that the inventory was not made in his presence, where he was then present on the premises. The evidence at the suppression hearing disclosed undisputably that the police violated the requirements of the Rule in that respect. In State v. Martelle, 1969, Me., 252 A.2d 316, we forcefully called attention to the Rule which contemplates the right in the person whose apartment is being searched to be present in the areas being searched while the search is going on and stated that the police had no authority to remove the occupant from the areas being searched on the mere pretense that the search will be rendered ineffective unless made in his absence, except where actual interference is demonstrated or probable cause for need of the occupant's exclusion for police protection is shown. It was further pointed out that the officers were not authorized to remove the occupant prior to the making of the inventory of the property taken except for exigent circumstances. The officers under the Rule have no more right to remove the occupant until a receipt of the property taken is furnished him. We still hold, as we did in Martelle, that noncompliance with the ministerial demands of the rule will not invalidate the search and seizure under the warrant. We hasten to add that persistent official disregard of these ministerial duties may cause us to adopt an exclusionary rule to compel police obedience. The defendant next argues that, by reason of the police's alleged failure before entry to give notice of their presence, authority and purpose, the search, even though under the search warrant, became an unreasonable search within the ban of Fourth-Fourteenth Amendment mandate. We recognize that police execution of search warrants, especially in the case of nighttime entries in homes, tend to disturb the security of the people which the Federal and State Constitutions set out to protect and that unannounced forcible entries, even when narcotics are involved, may, in the absence of exigent circumstances, be so unreasonable as to violate the spirit and letter of the constitutional provisions. See, People v. Gastelo, 1967, 67 Cal.2d 586, 63 Cal.Rptr. 10, 432 P.2d 706; Ker v. State of California, 1963, 374 U.S. 23, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 10 L.Ed.2d 726. Assuming for the purpose of disposing of this contention that constitutional requirements made it necessary for the police to announce, prior to entry, their presence, authority and purpose, we rule the findings of the Court below that the police did knock, state their authority and purpose and thereafter were let into the apartment, were not clearly erroneous and raise no valid point on appeal.