Opinion ID: 386112
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The entry into the house

Text: 32 Hackett contends that whatever exigency existed to justify the warrantless entry into the garage had dissipated before the entry into the house, and that therefore the testimony regarding the circumstances of his arrest was inadmissible. We disagree. 33 Approximately 30 minutes elapsed between the agents' entry into the garage and their entry into the house. During this half hour, however, the agents were not idle. After entering the detached garage and finding that Hackett and Turner were gone, the agents searched outside the garage and then went to the front door of the house. They knocked, demanded entry, and determined that the front and back doors were locked. Because a large German shepherd dog was prowling inside the house, the agents did not immediately attempt to break in. 34 Just then, word came over their hand radios that other agents down at the yacht club parking lot were detaining a man thought to be Turner. Leaving one agent at the house, the other agents drove down to the yacht club where it was determined that the detained suspect was not Turner. On their drive back to the house, the agents spotted Turner walking up the street. Turner was stopped, questioned, and arrested. The agents then returned to the house. 35 Approximately 5 to 10 minutes later, Hackett's girl friend returned in the station wagon. The agents informed her of their purpose and persuaded her to unlock the front door and subdue the German shepherd. 3 Hackett eventually was found crouching behind a door in an upstairs bathroom where he was arrested. 36 The agents did not have the time or opportunity to seek a warrant, even telephonically, during this half hour. Hackett was still at large and the contraband from the drug compartment had not been recovered. The district court did not clearly err in finding that the agents acted reasonably in dealing with the intervening problems of Hackett's dog, Turner's arrest and the negotiations with Hackett's girl friend about entry into the house. Cf. United States v. Gardner, 627 F.2d 906, at 911 (9th Cir. 1980) (clearly erroneous standard applies to district court's finding that exigency justified warrantless search). We agree with the district court that the exigent circumstances had not dissipated during the interval between the entries into the garage and the house. 37 Furthermore, even were we to hold the entry into the house illegal, only the testimony about Hackett hiding in the bathroom would require suppression. No other evidence was seized until a search warrant had been obtained. We think the erroneous admission of this testimony would be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. Although the prosecutor argued that Hackett's hiding behind the bathroom door implied consciousness of guilt, other evidence, clearly admissible, implied even more strongly Hackett's consciousness of guilt: viz., his flight from the garage and disposal of the transmitter and the packages of what he thought to be cocaine. 4 38 It is true the agents also recited the circumstances of Hackett's arrest in the affidavit supporting the application for the warrant to search the house. But this information can easily be disregarded without impairing the sufficiency of the affidavit. Cf. Franks v. Delaware, 438 U.S. 154, 171-72, 98 S.Ct. 2674, 2685-86, 57 L.Ed.2d 667 (1978) (deliberately or recklessly false statement in application for warrant does not invalidate warrant if, setting that statement aside, material sufficient to establish probable cause remains). Thus, it was not error to deny suppression of the evidence obtained through execution of this warrant.