Opinion ID: 160104
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Seizure of the Defendant

Text: 9 King argues the district court erred in denying his suppression motion because all the evidence which the police seized from his home and incriminating statements he made about that evidence resulted from an unconstitutional entry into the home. He concedes that the officers arrived at his house armed with a warrant which authorized the seizure of his person. King contends, however, that once he opened the door of his home and presented himself to the officers, they were required to seize him immediately at the threshold to his home. He thus argues that the officers exceeded the scope of their search warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment by tackling him back into his kitchen and conducting a protective sweep of the home. The proper characterization of the issue presented, however, is whether the manner in which the officers effectuated King's seizure was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. If the officers acted reasonably in tackling King back into his kitchen, their entrance into his kitchen was permissible and anything which they then observed in plain view in the kitchen was properly utilized to obtain the second search warrant. See Washington v. Chrisman, 455 U.S. 1, 5-6 (1982) (holding that the plain view doctrine permits a law enforcement officer to seize what is clearly incriminating evidence or contraband when it is discovered in a place where the officer has a right to be); United States v. Blount, 123 F.3d 831, 839 n.6 (5th Cir. 1997) (en banc) (noting that items legally observed in plain view may be referenced in an affidavit to obtain a search warrant). 10 Determining whether the force used to effect a particular seizure is 'reasonable' under the Fourth Amendment requires a careful balancing of the nature and quality of the intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against the countervailing governmental interests at stake. Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386, 396 (1989) (quotations omitted). We employ this balancing test to resolve the ultimate inquiry of whether, in light of the facts and circumstances confronting the officers who seized King, the manner in which they effectuated that seizure was objectively reasonable. 3 See id. at 397. 11 It is well settled that an individual's Fourth Amendment interest in freedom from governmental intrusion into the home is particularly strong, as this interest is rooted in the very language of the Fourth Amendment. See Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 589-590 (1980); Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 511 (1961). In Payton, the Supreme Court suggested that interest is at its height when a governmental intrusion into the home occurs without a warrant. See id. at 590 (Absent exigent circumstances, that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant.). In this case, however, the officers who seized King by tackling him back into his home did so with a search warrant in hand authorizing entry into that very residence. Additionally, the Supreme Court has recognized that individuals possess a Fourth Amendment interest in bodily integrity. See Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. 753, 760 (1985). In measuring the nature and quality of the officers' intrusion on King's Fourth Amendment interests, therefore, we note that the officers used only that amount of force against King's person which was necessary to quickly immobilize him. 12 This court must determine whether that intrusion is outweighed by the countervailing governmental interests at stake in this case, the safety of the officers effectuating the seizure. The facts and circumstances known to those officers at the time they executed the first search warrant would have caused a reasonable officer significant concern that an attempt to seize King could be fraught with danger. Prior to the seizure, the officers had information that King and an associate named Kevin Jones were selling drugs from the residence on 1206 Pennsylvania. Additionally, they had been informed by other police officers that Jones and King were gang members known to carry firearms. The officers also discovered King was the subject of an outstanding arrest warrant for failure to appear at sentencing on a felony conviction involving weapons. Finally, a reliable confidential informant had disclosed to the Lawrence officers that several weeks before King's seizure, when she and her boyfriend went to King's residence to purchase drugs, King had threatened her boyfriend with a gun. Prior to effectuating the seizure of King, therefore, the officers had information that King possessed a firearm in his home, that he had displayed a willingness to use that firearm, and that his associate Jones might also be inside the home armed with a weapon. Given this information, the executing officers had a substantial interest in seizing King in a manner which neutralized the definite safety risk inherent in their task. As the Supreme Court instructed in Terry v. Ohio, it would be unreasonable to require that police officers take unnecessary risks in the performance of their duties. 392 U.S. 1, 23 (1968). On balance, therefore, the officers' interest in their own safety at the time of the seizure outweighed their intrusion upon King's Fourth Amendment interests. 13 King also argues that the manner in which the search was conducted violated the Fourth Amendment because the officers disregarded the knock and announce requirement articulated in Wilson v. Arkansas and instead announced their presence and identity as they simultaneously entered his home, depriving him of the opportunity to voluntarily admit the officers. See 514 U.S. 927, 931-36 (1995). In Wilson, the Supreme Court did establish that the reasonableness of a search of a dwelling may depend in part on whether law enforcement officers announced their presence and authority prior to entering. Id. at 931. Both the Supreme Court and this court have recognized, however, that [o]fficers may . . . be excused from the usual 'knock and announce' rule if exigent circumstances attended the search. United States v. Moore, 91 F.3d 96, 98 (10th Cir. 1996); see also Wilson, 514 U.S. at 936 ([A]lthough a search or seizure of a dwelling might be constitutionally defective if police officers enter without prior announcement, law enforcement interests may also establish the reasonableness of an unannounced entry.); Richards v. Wisconsin, 520 U.S. 385, 391-92 (1997). 14 As the discussion above suggests, the government has demonstrated that exigent circumstances did attend the search of King's home, because the officers harbored a reasonable suspicion that knocking and announcing their presence, under the circumstances, would be dangerous . . . . Richards, 520 U.S. at 394. This is not a case, as in Moore, in which the only evidence of exigency was the presence of firearms. See 91 F.3d at 98. The government presented further evidence that King was violent, that he had previously displayed a willingness to use his gun, and that another suspected drug dealer might be present in King's home with a weapon in his possession. The government thus met the Moore court's demand that it demonstrate that the presence of firearms raised a concern for the officers' safety. Id. 15 Because the officers' tackling of King into his home and their simultaneous announcement and entry were objectively reasonable, they were legally present in the home when they observed in plain view the contraband upon which they relied to obtain the second search warrant. The evidence ultimately seized in that second search and any statements King made concerning the observed contraband, therefore, need not be suppressed due to the manner in which the officers effectuated King's seizure.