Opinion ID: 2513926
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Exceptions to Otherwise Unreasonable and Unconstitutional Warrantless Searches: Exigent Circumstances and Emergency Aid

Text: When ruling on a motion to suppress, a trial court must engage both in fact-findinga specific inquiry into the historical phenomena of the caseand law application, which involves the application of the controlling legal standard to the facts established by the evidence. People v. King, 16 P.3d 807, 812 (Colo.2001)(internal citations omitted). The trial court's findings of historical facts are entitled to deference and will not be overturned if supported by competent evidence in the record. See People v. Rivas, 13 P.3d 315, 320 (Colo.2000). The role of the appellate court, however, is to determine whether the trial court's legal conclusions are supported by sufficient evidence and whether the trial court applied the correct legal standards. When no controlling facts are in dispute, the appellate court may review the issue de novo because the legal effect of undisputed controlling facts is a question of law. Id. Because we find that no controlling facts are in dispute here, we turn to a discussion of the legal standards. Both the United States and Colorado Constitutions bar unreasonable searches and seizures. See U.S. Const. amend. IV; Colo. Const. art. II, § 7. We have held that a warrantless search and seizure is presumptively unreasonable unless justified by one of the well-established exceptions to the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment. See People v. Hebert, 46 P.3d 473, 478 (Colo. 2002). The burden is on the prosecution to prove one of these exceptions. See People v. Amato, 193 Colo. 57, 60, 562 P.2d 422, 423 (1977). To determine whether the prosecution has met its burden, courts must examine the totality of the circumstances as they would have appeared to a prudent and trained police officer at the time the decision to conduct a warrantless entry was made. Hebert, 46 P.3d at 480; People v. Grazier, 992 P.2d 1149, 1154 (Colo.2000). One such exception to the Warrant Clause applies when exigent circumstances exist that necessitate immediate police action. People v. Kluhsman, 980 P.2d 529, 534 (Colo.1999). Under the exigent circumstances exception, the prosecution must prove (1) the presence of probable cause and (2) an exigent circumstance that justifies a warrantless entry. Id. We have held that three situations qualify as exigent circumstances that would justify such an unauthorized entry: (1) when police are engaged in hot pursuit of a fleeing suspect; (2) there is a risk of immediate destruction of evidence; or (3) there is a colorable claim of an emergency situation threatening the life or safety of another. Id. The emergency situation has been invoked in burglary cases when police officers make a warrantless entry into a residence to secure the premises and search for suspects and victims. See, e.g., People v. Unruh, 713 P.2d 370, 379 (Colo.1986). However, to justify a warrantless entry, police must have probable cause to believe that a burglary recently occurred or may be in progress. Grazier, 992 P.2d at 1154. In Grazier, for example, we upheld the trial court's suppression order in a burglary case because the police lacked probable cause to enter a residence without a warrant under the exigent circumstances exception. Id. at 1156. In that case, the police received a 911 call about a possible burglary in progress. The caller reported observing men enter an apartment through a window, open the door to let another man into the apartment, and then close the curtains. The caller, a neighbor to the apartment, did not think that any of the men lived at the apartment. Id. at 1151. When the police investigated the apartment, however, they did not observe any signs of a burglary in progress. There was no forced entry. They did not hear any noises or see any other suspicious movement. Through the window they saw a man inside but he was not armed and posed no apparent threat. The officers knocked on the door and the man answered. Without questioning him about whether he lived there or his identify or the reason for his presence, the officers handcuffed him and entered the apartment. Id. at 1152, 1155. On such facts, we held that the trial court correctly ruled that the police officers' observations did not establish probable cause to believe that there was a burglary in progress. Id. at 1155-56. Suspicion alone does not rise to the level of probable cause. Id. at 1154. The police officers failed to act reasonably under the circumstances and thus could not invoke the exigent circumstances exception to justify their unconstitutional entry. A second established exception to the Warrant Clause is the emergency aid exception. The emergency aid exception also requires a colorable claim of an emergency threatening the life or safety of another. Hebert, 46 P.3d at 479. However, unlike the exigent circumstances exception, the emergency aid exception requires the prosecution to prove the existence of an immediate crisis and the probability that [police] assistance will be helpful. Amato, 193 Colo. at 60, 562 P.2d at 424. Also, the emergency aid doctrine does not require probable cause. Id.; see also Kluhsman, 980 P.2d at 535 n. 7. The factual contexts in which we have applied the emergency aid exception explain the absence of the usual probable cause requirement for warrantless searches. For example, when police respond to a fire or other similar emergency, it is easy to understand why they are not required to have probable cause. See Hebert, 46 P.3d at 478. The more difficult situation arises when police officers are originally investigating a scene but then make a warrantless entry to aid an individual in need of emergency assistance. Id. If the officer's purpose in entering a place without a warrant is to render emergency assistance, then police need not have probable cause to believe that contraband or other evidence of criminal activity is located at a particular place. Id. Although no usual probable cause is required under the emergency aid exception, police must have a reasonable basis approximating probable cause to associate the emergency with the area or place to be searched. Id. at 479. As we have explained in the past, the reasonable basis allows police to make warrantless entries only when there are facts to support the conclusion that someone's life or safety is seriously threatened: [T]he emergency aid exception does not give police officers carte blanche to make a warrantless entry whenever there is a theoretical possibility that another's life or safety is in danger; rather, there must be a colorable claim that another's life or safety is in danger. Id. We applied the reasonable basis test in People v. Thompson, 770 P.2d 1282 (Colo. 1989), where we upheld the police officers' warrantless entry because there was a colorable claim that someone's life or safety was in danger. In Thompson, the police responded to a 911 domestic violence call. 770 P.2d at 1284-85. When they arrived at the scene, the officers observed several spent bullet casings on the driveway, blood on the front porch, the front door, and on the side of the house next to the front door, a front door ajar several inches, and shattered glass. Observing these signs of violence, the police knocked on the door. A woman answered who had blood covering her face and clothes and was holding an ice pack to her head. Id. We concluded that the police's subsequent entry into the residence, without a warrant and without the woman's permission, was necessary and authorized under the emergency aid exception given the signs that suggested the woman's safety was in danger. Id. at 1286. Having discussed two exceptions that would justify a warrantless entry into a person's home, we turn to an application of these exceptions to the facts of this case as found by the trial court.