Opinion ID: 1825821
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Lawful execution of the search warrant.

Text: The trial court found that the officers confronted the evidence at issue while lawfully making an initial quick and thorough search    to determine the presence of any occupants and thereafter in the lawful execution of the search warrant to locate both the stereo speakers described in the search warrant and the indicia of ownership referred therein. Defendant argues that a cursory check of the premises is only justified where there is reason to believe that a security risk is present [1] or that destruction of contraband is threatened, neither of which circumstance was present here. And he argues that the search exceeded its proper scope as soon as the officers entered the house and saw near the door the speakers which were the ones they had seen being carried into the house but which were Jensen speakers and not the Sylvania speakers described in the warrant. In the instant case, officers testified that because they had seen a movement inside they walked through the house to ascertain whether anyone was present in addition to the dog of which they were already aware. The trial court found that the officers had probable cause to believe the premises occupied. They had the additional purpose in going through the house of reaching the kitchen where the dog was located to ascertain whether it was loose. Although the dog was secured, they took it down to the basement. The third task undertaken by the police immediately upon entering the house was to turn off the burglar alarm activated by their entry. The record does not disclose where they had to go to effect this purpose. Whether or not the evidence at issue in this case was properly within the plain view of the officers does not depend wholly upon whether or not they acted properly in their threefold purpose of checking for occupants, securing the dog, and deactivating the burglar alarm. From outside the house, officers had seen the numerous speakers in the living room. From where the Jensen speakers were located, the officers could see in the living room the inordinate amount of stereo equipment and a radar oven. Furthermore, the warrant authorized their search for indicia of ownership of the premises. Given these combined circumstances, the evidence supports the conclusion that the officers were not engaged in an exploratory rummaging when the objects at issue came into plain view.