Opinion ID: 1473997
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: motivation for entry

Text: Finally, we must determine whether the officers' entry was motivated primarily by the intent to arrest or to search, or by an intent to investigate and to render assistance in an emergency. Booth, supra, 455 A.2d at 1356. The officers' testified that they did not enter the home with the intent to arrest appellant, but rather to speak with her again to ascertain the baby's identity. They did not intend to search the home for evidence that appellant had kidnapped the baby from D.C. General Hospital. Instead, they entered in order to speak with appellant to determine whether the baby was in fact the kidnapped baby and therefore in need of immediate assistance. See id. (finding proper intent); Earle, supra, 612 A.2d at 1264 (same). Implicit in the trial court's analysis during the suppression hearing and ruling was a finding that the officers' motivation for entering the house was to identify and rescue the baby and to find Ms. Oliver's reaction to her Howard Hospital story being discovered as fabrication. Accordingly, since the three Booth criteria are met in this case and the warrantless entry did not violate the Fourth Amendment, we sustain the trial court's ruling that the seizure of the baby was lawful and its identification admissible in evidence. [20]