Opinion ID: 1718807
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: first search

Text: Silvers argues that a search that was conducted at approximately 6:30 a.m. on May 3, 1986, was illegal and was for the sole purpose of obtaining evidence to prove that he had committed the crime of arson. During this search, certain evidence was seized from Silvers' home. Following is a list of the items seized and the location where they were found: empty milk container (607 10th Drive, Kearney, Nebraska); sheet linen of victim (victim's waterbed); door knob (hallway just outside victim's bedroom); Discover magazine (floor of bathroom adjacent to victim's bedroom); burned tissue (floor of bathroom shower); clock (victim's waterbed); burned tissue (along wall of bathroom); burned cloth (east end of bathroom floor); hollow-cored door (victim's bedroom); book of cardboard matches (bathroom counter or vanity); bathroom door, hollow-cored (intact with part of jam); one red cardboard match (living room floor); book of cardboard matches (bathroom counter or vanity, upstairs hall); beer can three-quarters full of liquid (sidewalk adjacent to 607 10th Drive, Kearney, Nebraska); book of cardboard matches (front steps of 1010 Sixth Avenue, Kearney, Nebraska); and book of cardboard matches (curb on north side of 1010 Sixth Avenue, Kearney, Nebraska). The district court assumed that all entries of Silvers' home between 1:30 a.m. and 4:20 p.m. on May 3, 1986, were warrantless and nonconsensual. It found that the following sequence of events had occurred in the early morning hours of May 3: Around 1:23 a.m., the fire department was called to a structure fire at Silvers' home. Law enforcement officers and Kearney volunteer firefighters arrived at the scene and extinguished the blaze by approximately 1:45 a.m. The fire continued to smolder for a period of time thereafter. At about the same time, Nelson was contacted. He proceeded to the scene and was met by the fire chief, who provided Nelson with general information concerning the fire. Nelson was advised that the occupants, including one child, had been taken to the hospital. He then began his own investigation to determine the cause of the fire. He concluded that a flammable liquid was necessarily involved and proceeded to the hospital to make further inquiry of the occupants and to determine the extent of the injuries involved. At the hospital, Nelson was advised that the victim had second and third degree burns over approximately 90 percent of her body and had suffered several lacerations. He was advised by one of the attending police officers that clothing had been removed from the victim and that some of the clothing smelled like gasoline. Silvers and his wife were subsequently interviewed by Nelson. Silvers' wife advised Nelson that she had been awakened by a boom or explosion. She believed the fire could have been caused by a natural gas leak. Silvers told Nelson that the fire had probably started in the heater control of the victim's waterbed. He stated that the heater control was on the right side of the bed next to the wall and that this was where the fire had started. Nelson then interviewed additional persons, including ambulance attendants who had transported the victim to the hospital. These individuals had noticed a strong odor of gasoline on the victim but repeated the mother's assertion that the fire had started when something blew up. Nelson then returned to the scene of the fire, and the house was reentered to continue the investigation as to the cause of the fire. The district court found that Nelson had requested the assistance of another deputy State Fire Marshal, Bradley Hoppe, to assist Nelson in determining the cause of the fire. Hoppe testified that he arrived at the scene between 5 and 6 a.m. and began an external examination of the building at approximately 7 a.m. He then reentered the home at 7:50 a.m. to further his investigation. Hoppe testified that when he arrived on the scene, the information which had been relayed to him created a suspicion that arson was the cause of the fire. He testified, however, that he could not determine the cause of the fire without completing his own investigation and that it took several hours before he came to his own independent conclusion that arson was the cause of the fire. Based upon this evidence, the district court found that Nelson's and Hoppe's investigations of the fire were proper and were for the purpose of determining the cause of the fire rather than merely garnering evidence of criminal activity. We will not disturb the findings of the district court unless they are clearly erroneous. See State v. Soukharith, 260 Neb. 478, 618 N.W.2d 409 (2000). After reviewing the evidence, we cannot say that the district court's conclusion that these investigations were for the purpose of determining the cause of the fire was clearly erroneous.