Opinion ID: 1231201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: entry into the home

Text: In his first assignment of error, Plant impliedly recognizes that a police officer who has not obtained either an arrest or a search warrant cannot make a nonconsensual and warrantless entry into a suspect's home in the absence of exigent circumstances. See State v. Resler, 209 Neb. 249, 306 N.W.2d 918 (1981). Plant argues that exigent circumstances were lacking when Omaha police officers entered his home because they did not have a reasonable belief from a present factual basis that anyone was in the Plants' home. Plant argues that since his fourth amendment right against unreasonable searches was violated, Cindy Plant's and James Bartlett's statements made to Dr. Woerth and to Sergeant Muldoon and photographs of the home should have been suppressed as fruits of the poisonous tree under Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963). Following a pretrial hearing, the trial court overruled Plant's motion to suppress the photographs taken in the Plants' residence and the children's statements. The defendant made no objection at trial to the admission of the photographs. Therefore, Plant may not raise as error in this appeal the admission of the photographs into evidence. In a criminal trial, after a pretrial hearing and order overruling a defendant's motion to suppress evidence, the defendant must object at trial to admission of the evidence which was the subject of the suppression motion in order to preserve the question for appeal. State v. Sock, 227 Neb. 646, 419 N.W.2d 525 (1988); State v. Pointer, 224 Neb. 892, 402 N.W.2d 268 (1987). Thus, we concern ourselves with only the out-of-court statements of the children. This court has recognized that exigent circumstances may be found to exist in an emergency situation. State v. Resler, supra . In the context of this case, the rationale for the emergency doctrine is to allow `police officers [to] enter a dwelling without a warrant to render emergency aid and assistance to a person whom they reasonably believe to be in distress and in need of that assistance....' Id. at 254-55, 306 N.W.2d at 922 (quoting Root v. Gauper, 438 F.2d 361 (8th Cir.1971)). The elements of the doctrine may be summarized as follows: (1) The police must have reasonable grounds to believe that there is an emergency at hand and an immediate need for their assistance for the protection of life or property; (2) the search must not be primarily motivated by intent to arrest and seize evidence; and (3) there must be some reasonable basis, approximating probable cause, to associate the emergency with the area or place to be searched. State v. Resler, supra . In the absence of a warrant, the State has the burden to prove that the search was conducted under circumstances substantiating the reasonableness of the search or seizure. State v. Abdouch, 230 Neb. 929, 434 N.W.2d 317 (1989). Before forcing entry into the Plants' home, the entering police officers had information from which they could reasonably conclude that two 4-year-old children and a 2-week-old infant were unaccounted for and had been left unattended for several hours. The entering officers had attempted unsuccessfully to verify reports of Plant's wife, mother, and sister that the children were at the Plants' residence. The officers were also aware that the information Plant had given other officers as to his and the children's whereabouts and activities was misleading. One of the officers had observed an automobile matching that of the defendant in a lot across the street from the Plants' residence. It left the area without the driver's contacting the police or the residence. The entering officers were also familiar with a report to police that 4-year-old James Bartlett had suffered continual abuse by the defendant and that Christopher Bartlett was in critical condition because of his injuries. All of this information was gathered by police from reliable sources and demonstrates that the officers entering the Plants' home had reasonable grounds to believe that an emergency was at hand and that there was an immediate need for police assistance for the protection of the three small unaccounted-for children. The information also demonstrates that there was a reasonable basis approximating probable cause for associating the emergency with the place to be searched, i.e., the Plants' home. Under the totality of the circumstances, had the police officers failed to enter the home to determine the well-being of the children, they may well have been derelict in their duty in light of all the knowledge they possessed at that time. The police officers who participated in the forced entry into the house testified that their motivation in entering the Plants' dwelling was to ensure the safety of the children, not to arrest Plant or conduct an evidentiary search. The trial court determined that the warrantless entry into the Plants' home was proper under the emergency doctrine. In determining the correctness of a ruling on a motion to suppress, the Supreme Court will uphold a trial court's findings of fact unless those findings are clearly wrong. State v. Marcotte, 233 Neb. 533, 446 N.W.2d 228 (1989). The district court was not clearly wrong in finding that the warrantless, nonconsensual entry into the Plants' house by police officers did not violate Plant's fourth amendment constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure. Therefore, the defendant was not entitled to have the statements of Cindy Plant and James Bartlett suppressed on the basis of an unreasonable search and seizure. Plant's first assignment of error is without merit.