Opinion ID: 2570155
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Seizures Were Justified by the Exigent Circumstances Exception.

Text: {26} The State also relies on the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, which permits a search in circumstances where it would be unreasonable to insist upon the procurement of a warrant. This concept does not depend on the fact of an arrest. It is based instead on the combined presence of (1) probable cause to believe that lawfully seizable items are present, and (2) case-specific exigent circumstances that make it reasonable to conduct the search without first going to a judicial officer and obtaining a search warrant. See Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶ 42, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1; State v. Gallegos, 2003-NMCA-079, ¶ 10, 133 N.M. 838, 70 P.3d 1277. {27} Probable cause existed in this case as soon as Defendant admitted that he had a shotgun in his car on the grounds of a school. New Mexico law makes it a felony to bring any deadly weapon onto school premises. See § 30-7-2.1(A) (stating that the [u]nlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises consists of carrying a deadly weapon on school premises); see also § 30-7-2.1(B)(2) (including as school premises public buildings or grounds, including playing fields and parking areas that are not public school property, in or on which public school-related and sanctioned activities are being performed). Because the officer had probable cause to search the car, the only question left to be decided is whether the officer had to forego a search of the automobile to retrieve the weapon until he first obtained a search warrant, or whether instead the exigent circumstances doctrine permitted an immediate warrantless search. {28} In Gomez, this Court reaffirmed the continuing validity of the fact-based exigent circumstances exception for automobile searches while rejecting the federal approach of a blanket automobile exception to the warrant requirement. Our purpose [in Gomez ] was to keep intact the fact-specific nature of reasonableness determinations under search and seizure principles. State v. Bomboy, 2008-NMSC-029, ¶ 6, 144 N.M. 151, 184 P.3d 1045. As with the search incident to arrest exception under our New Mexico Constitution, the application of the exigent circumstances doctrine is guided by its justifying rationale and applied through the lens of reasonableness. {29} The federal and New Mexico Constitutions are not a guarantee against all searches and seizures, only unreasonable ones. See Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶ 36, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1; United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 682, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985). The facts in Gomez are illustrative. The officer in that case was dispatched to investigate a disturbance at a crowded nighttime party. Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶ 4, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1. When he arrived, he witnessed the defendant attempting to conceal something in his car, and he detected the odor of marijuana. Id. ¶ 5. The officer therefore had probable cause to believe the car contained contraband. Id. ¶ 41. While it would have been permissible for the officer to arrest the defendant and leave the car unattended while he left to obtain a search warrant, this Court rejected the notion that the Constitution prohibited the officer from choosing to secure the evidence immediately, given the realistic danger that someone might remove the car or the drug evidence in the interim. Id. Gomez therefore affirmed the district court's denial of the suppression motion and held that under the specific facts and circumstances, the officer reasonably determined exigent circumstances justified his warrantless search of the vehicle. Id. ¶ 46. {30} The reasonableness inquiry looks at the particular facts of a situation to evaluate whether an objectively reasonable, well-trained officer could have determined that swift action was called for to prevent destruction of evidence, the escape of a suspect or undue risk to life or property. See id. ¶¶ 39, 40. The test, like so many others in both civil and criminal law, is one of objective reasonableness. {31} Our approach protects both the legitimate constitutional protections of our citizens and our realistic needs for police protection. Where a warrant can be obtained without sacrificing legitimate law enforcement interests, it should be obtained. Conversely, where the circumstances make obtaining a warrant objectively unreasonable, an immediate warrantless search will be upheld. In Gomez itself, we emphasized that in refusing to accept the federal bright-line automobile exception to the warrant requirement, we still understood that in most cases involving vehicles there will be exigent circumstances. Id. ¶ 44. In our recent Bomboy decision, we rejected the notion that Gomez intended to place a constitutional strait-jacket on reasonable police behavior, and we specifically disapproved of decisions that tended to apply Gomez's warrant requirement too broadly. Bomboy, 2008-NMSC-029, ¶ 12, 144 N.M. 151, 184 P.3d 1045. {32} In Bomboy, we upheld the decision of a police officer to make a warrantless seizure of methamphetamine from inside a car after he observed it in plain view through the driver's window during a traffic stop. Id. ¶ 2. Taking the defendant into custody would not have resolved the exigencies presented by the obvious drugs in the car. This Court recognized that if the officer had not secured the evidence promptly, it easily could have been tampered with or destroyed by others. Id. ¶ 13. We therefore reversed a decision of the Court of Appeals that had interpreted Gomez to require that the drugs be left in the car in plain view while the officer went to obtain a search warrant. Id. ¶ 2. {33} We reach a similar result in the circumstances of the case before us. The officer was faced with a situation where he knew that a car he had just stopped on school premises during the lunch recess contained an extremely dangerous weapon. Bringing a shotgun or other deadly weapon onto school grounds poses such a high risk of danger that the Legislature specifically has made it a felony offense. See § 30-7-2.1. It was certainly not unreasonable for the Legislature to conclude that the presence of dangerous weapons on school property is an intolerable threat to the safety of students and teachers, and it was not objectively unreasonable for Officer Thomas to act immediately to remove the weapons from the car and the school grounds. Even without the dramatic examples of recent tragedies involving firearms on school campuses, the very real dangers of deadly weapons on school grounds are obvious. {34} Defendant's lack of personal access to the vehicle at the time of the search did not resolve all the exigencies of the continuing presence of the firearm. Just as the automobile and its contraband remained accessible to others in Gomez, the deadly contents of Defendant's car remained accessible to students and others until the officer took prompt steps to secure the weapons. {35} Once Officer Thomas knew that there was at least one firearm in the car, he was justified in searching every place inside where a weapon and its explosive ammunition might be located. He was not obligated to stop his search as soon as he found the first weapon. Finding an additional loaded firearm, other weapons and spare ammunition only served to enhance the good cause the officer had to continue his search of both the passenger compartment and the trunk to make sure he would secure the entire arsenal of weapons. None of the items observed and seized during that search should have been excluded from consideration as evidence on the basis of their having been found during a warrantless search of the car. We therefore reverse the contrary determinations of the district court and the Court of Appeals.