Opinion ID: 882275
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Were there exigent circumstances?

Text: Defendant maintains that his Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure was violated when the police stopped him on Highway 2 without a warrant, held him at gun point, searched his truck and impounded it. He maintains that the police had ample time to obtain a search warrant the night of the stop, and the officer's failure to obtain a warrant under these circumstances violated his Constitutional rights. He contends that since there were three officers on the stakeout until 1:30 a.m., one of them could have obtained a search warrant before sending Officer Sward home at 1:30 a.m. to get some rest. He maintains that there were no exigent circumstances which would justify a warrantless stop and search since the officers had all the information they needed to obtain a warrant hours before the stop. The State contends that a warrantless search was justified by exigent circumstances: (1) that there was not time to secure a warrant; and (2) that there were not enough officers available to safely conduct the stakeout. Relying in part on Officer Christensen's testimony, the State maintains that it would have taken four hours or more to obtain a search warrant since it was Saturday and thus more difficult to find a judge and the county attorney. Officer Christensen testified he thought it was more important to set up the stakeout as soon as possible. He further testified that there were not enough officers available at the time to get a warrant and organize a stakeout in time. He testified he was concerned about defendant's reputed dangerousness and believed that it was necessary to have more than one officer available at the stop. In the recent case of California v. Acevedo (1991), ___ U.S. ___, 111 S.Ct. 1982, 114 L.Ed.2d 619, the United States Supreme Court considered various cases which had addressed warrantless searches of automobiles and luggage and other containers in automobiles. The court referred to Carroll v. United States (1924), 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543, where the Supreme Court in pertinent part stated: It therefore held that a warrantless search of an automobile based upon probable cause to believe that the vehicle contained evidence of crime in the light of an exigency arising out of the likely disappearance of the vehicle did not contravene the Warrant Clause of the Fourth Amendment. (Citation omitted.) The court refined the exigency requirements in Chambers v. Maroney [399 U.S. 42, 90 S.Ct. 1975, 26 L.Ed.2d 419 (1970)] ... when it held that the existence of exigent circumstances was to be determined at the time the automobile is seized. (Citation omitted.) Acevedo, 111 S.Ct. at 1986. The court discussed the various cases and concluded that it was appropriate to have one clear-cut rule to govern automobile searches and stated in pertinent part: We conclude that it is better to adopt one clear-cut rule to govern automobile searches and eliminate the warrant requirement for closed containers set forth in Sanders.