Opinion ID: 2648213
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Search outside the home

Text: a. The officers’ basis to believe there was an immediate need to protect lives Based on the magistrate judge’s findings of fact and our review of the record, we conclude that at the time they arrived at the property, Deputy Waldrop and Detective Brookhouser had an “objectively reasonable basis to believe there was an immediate need to protect” Ms. Jacobsen, and this reasonable basis justified their entry onto the property. Najar, 451 F.3d at 718. The Supreme Court has instructed that the emergency aid exception permits law enforcement officers to enter a home without a warrant “to render emergency assistance to an injured occupant or to protect an occupant from imminent injury.” Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 403. Both justifications apply here. Deputy Waldrop testified that he knew from Ms. Dworkin that Ms. Jacobsen was injured and in need of protection, having been badly beaten, allegedly at the hands of Mr. Dupree. Admittedly, Ms. Dworkin testified that she first notified Deputy Waldrop that Ms. Jacobsen was injured sometime that morning, and Deputy Waldrop did not go over to her house until later that afternoon, -13- suggesting that the need “to render emergency assistance” to the injured Ms. Jacobsen may have passed. Id. But the second type of exigency—the need “to protect [Ms. Jacobsen] from imminent injury,” id.—was present at 4:30 p.m. Ms. Dworkin’s and Deputy Waldrop’s testimony agreed that Ms. Dworkin called Deputy Waldrop about Ms. Jacobsen around 3:30 p.m. Ms. Dworkin testified that she urged Deputy Waldrop to go over to Ms. Jacobsen’s house to check on her because she was afraid that Ms. Jacobsen may have gone back to the house since that morning and that Mr. Dupree would be there. Ms. Dworkin also told Deputy Waldrop that Ms. Jacobsen was afraid that Mr. Dupree would kill her. In these circumstances, we agree with the magistrate judge that “the officers were entitled to go to [Ms. Jacobsen’s] home to make sure she was all right.” ROA, Vol. I at 156. Ms. Dworkin’s statement to Deputy Waldrop that Ms. Jacobsen was badly beaten was “credible evidence . . . of physical abuse” of the sort highlighting “the potential for violence” in a domestic dispute. See Storey v. Taylor, 696 F.3d 987, 995-96 (10th Cir. 2012) (discussing cases from other jurisdictions in which exigent circumstances justified entry into a home in response to a report of a domestic dispute). Ms. Dworkin was not an unknown informant; she was Deputy Waldrop’s girlfriend. Deputy Waldrop testified that he believed her and was concerned about Ms. Jacobsen’s safety at the time of the call. Deputy Waldrop also testified that his knowledge of Mr. Dupree heightened his concern for Ms. Jacobsen’s welfare. Because Deputy Waldrop knew that Mr. Dupree had reportedly beaten and threatened Ms. Jacobsen that morning, he could reasonably -14- conclude that Mr. Dupree would do so again if she returned to the house. The officers’ initial entry onto the property was therefore justified to secure her safety. Furthermore, the record indicates that Deputy Waldrop and Detective Brookhouser arrived at the house as quickly as possible after receiving Ms. Dworkin’s call around 3:30 p.m. Deputy Waldrop took directions from Ms. Dworkin to Ms. Jacobsen’s house, met up with Detective Brookhouser, drove for half an hour, and arrived at Ms. Jacobsen’s property around 4:30 p.m. The speed of Deputy Waldrop’s response, coupled with his testimony that he feared Ms. Jacobsen was in danger, indicates that he and Detective Brookhouser acted in a manner that objectively reasonable officers would to “protect [Ms. Jacobsen] from imminent injury.” Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 403; see also Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 39 (1996) (“[T]he touchstone of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness.” (quotations omitted)). b. Manner and scope of the search We further conclude that “the manner and scope of the search” the officers conducted outside the house was reasonable and proportionate to the exigency at the time. See Najar, 451 F.3d at 718. Acting on information that Ms. Jacobsen was potentially in danger and inside the house, Deputy Waldrop and Detective Brookhouser initially approached the house and knocked on a door. When they received no answer, they had a reasonable basis to believe Ms. Jacobsen might be immobilized inside; at that point, they went to the other side of the home. This limited search was an appropriate attempt to find Ms. Jacobsen. -15-