Opinion ID: 492083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Hotel Room

Text: 7 The Fourth Amendment prohibits warrantless and nonconsensual entry into a person's home. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). A hotel room, as a temporary abode, is similarly protected from arbitrary searches and seizures. See Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 301, 87 S.Ct. 408, 413, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966); United States v. Diaz, 814 F.2d 454, 458 (7th Cir.1987). Searches and seizures undertaken without warrants are presumed arbitrary and unreasonable, subject to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). One such exception is the exigent circumstances doctrine which recognizes that warrantless entry by criminal law enforcement officials may be legal when there is a compelling need for official action and no time to secure a warrant. Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 509, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 1949, 56 L.Ed.2d 486 (1978); United States v. Dowell, 724 F.2d 599 (7th Cir.), cert denied, 466 U.S. 906, 104 S.Ct. 1683, 80 L.Ed.2d 157 (1984). The doctrine applies where agents fear imminent destruction of the evidence. Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 39-40, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 1632-33, 10 L.Ed.2d 726 (1963). 8 Since the doctrine is an exception to the general warrant requirement, the government had the burden of showing that the warrantless entry into the hotel room fits within the exception. Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 34, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 1971, 26 L.Ed.2d 409 (1970). The government must show more than a subjective fear of imminent destruction of evidence; the fear must be objectively reasonable. United States v. Dowell, 724 F.2d at 602. In determining whether the agents reasonably feared imminent destruction of the evidence, the appropriate inquiry is whether the facts, as they appeared at the moment of entry, would lead a reasonable, experienced agent to believe that evidence might be destroyed before a warrant could be secured. United States v. Miller, 800 F.2d 129, 133 (7th Cir.1986). In other words, were the police unreasonable in not getting a warrant in the circumstances that confronted them? Llaguno v. Mingey, 763 F.2d 1560, 1564 (7th Cir.1985) (en banc). 9 When the agents approached the hotel room they saw a Do Not Disturb sign on the door and heard sounds of a television or radio from within. Since the officers had information that large quantities of cocaine were involved and believed that the hotel room near the airport was the central locus of the transactions, the district court found that the officers had probable cause to believe that there was additional contraband in the room. The district court also found that the officers reasonably believed that the hotel room was occupied by other persons who might destroy the contraband. 10 Appellants' objections to the behavior of the agents rest largely on hindsight. Rivera argues that since all known defendants were then in custody, it was unreasonable to believe that the room was occupied. But the agents could not know, to a certainty, the final number of those involved. The room had not been under surveillance prior to the time the agents approached and heard sounds from within. Given the information the agents then possessed, it was not unreasonable to fear that a fourth or fifth conspirator might be inside the room, ready to destroy the evidence if his or her compatriots did not return as planned. 11 Rivera urges that the agents could have procured a telephonic warrant, pursuant to FED.R.CRIM.P. 41(c) However, once the agents believed that another conspirator might be inside the room with the contraband, they reasonably feared imminent destruction of the evidence. Once the exigent circumstances arose, it is impossible to say whether the agents had five minutes or five hours. They had no way of knowing when destruction of the evidence might occur. We therefore agree that the facts available to the agents at the time established exigent circumstances sufficient to allow the warrantless entry into the hotel room.