Opinion ID: 2185804
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the warrantless search of defendant's apartment

Text: At trial defense counsel moved to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless search of defendant's apartment, asserting that the items were seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and art. I, sec. 6, of the Rhode Island Constitution. The trial justice denied defendant's motion on the ground that the items taken were in plain view of officers entering the apartment in response to an emergency. The defendant contends that the trial justice erred in refusing to grant his motion to suppress. We agree. In Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978), the United States Supreme Court held that the seriousness of an offense under investigation creates no exigency that would justify a warrantless search of a dwelling absent any indication that the evidence would be lost, destroyed, or removed before a warrant could be obtained. In Mincey a police officer was shot during a raid on the defendant's apartment. Drug enforcement agents on the scene conducted a brief search of the apartment for additional victims or suspects and remained on the premises to guard the suspects and to secure the scene. About ten minutes later, homicide detectives arrived at the scene and conducted an exhaustive, warrantless search of the apartment over a period of approximately four days. The Court stated that although the original entry and sweep search by law enforcement officials was justified by exigent circumstances, the scope of the subsequent search exceeded the exigency and was therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court reaffirmed Mincey in Thompson v. Louisiana, 469 U.S. 17, 105 S.Ct. 409, 83 L.Ed.2d 246 (1984). The Court, in deciding Thompson, repeated its position that searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment subject only to a few specifically established and well delineated exceptions. Id. at 1920, 105 S.Ct. at 410, 83 L.Ed.2d at 250 (quoting Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576, 585 (1967)). The Court emphasized that a warrantless search of premises that police officers have lawfully entered is limited to a brief sweep to ascertain whether additional victims or suspects are still on the premises. Similarly, this court held in State v. Jennings, 461 A.2d 361 (R.I. 1983), that a warrantless search beyond the scope of a brief survey to ascertain whether additional malefactors or victims are inside the premises is violative of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In Jennings the police responded to a rescue call and found a wounded man lying on the ground outside an apartment building. The defendant accompanied the victim to the hospital. A resident of the apartment building then informed one of the officers that the defendant's apartment had been ransacked. The officer entered the apartment and briefly searched it for intruders. He went downstairs and asked his superior officer to come up and look at the apartment, whereupon the two officers proceeded to conduct a full scale search. This court held that although the initial search of the apartment for suspects or additional victims was justified, the second entry onto the premises did not fall within any exception to the warrant requirement. The court emphasized that [w]hen the security check has been completed, the area is secured, and there is no longer any danger of the loss or destruction of evidence, the search must cease. Any further intrusion is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 367. The instant case is governed by Mincey, Thompson, and Jennings. Once defendant's apartment had been secured, the exigency that justified the entry onto the premises terminated. Since there was no danger after that point that the items in the apartment would be lost, destroyed, or removed before a search warrant could be obtained, the police were required to obtain a warrant before searching the apartment further. Since they failed to do so, the search violated the Fourth Amendment and the evidence seized during the course of that search must be suppressed. The state argues that the seizure of items from the apartment was permissible under the plain view exception to the warrant requirement. We disagree. The plain view doctrine is not applicable unless the items seized are evidence of a crime that came into view of an officer lawfully present on the premises searched. State v. Eiseman, 461 A.2d 369 (R.I. 1983). Although Officers O'Connell and Pellegrino could have seized evidence in plain view while lawfully on the premises in response to an emergency, the officers who arrived subsequently were not lawfully on the premises. A search within the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement must be `strictly circumscribed by the exigencies which justify its initiation.' Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. at 393, 98 S.Ct. at 2413, 57 L.Ed.2d at 300 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 26, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1882, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 908 (1968)). State v. Jennings, 461 A.2d at 367. The exigent circumstances exception does not, therefore, extend to officers who arrive on the scene once the premises have been secured. Since the officers who seized the items from the defendant's apartment were not lawfully on the premises, the plain view exception to the warrant requirement is inapplicable. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial justice erred in refusing to grant the defendant's motion to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless search. [6] For the reasons stated, the defendant's appeal is sustained, the judgment of conviction is vacated, and the case is remanded to the Superior Court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.