Opinion ID: 395208
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Defendant White: Warrantless Entry

Text: 21 Under Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), the Fourth Amendment ... prohibits the police from making a warrantless and nonconsensual entry into a suspect's home in order to make a routine felony arrest. Payton, 445 U.S. at 576, 100 S.Ct. at 1375. Payton, did not purport to decide, however, whether an initial consensual entry would justify a subsequent warrantless arrest. Id. at 583, 100 S.Ct. at 1378. The district court found Payton's warrant requirement inapplicable in the instant case because Officer Kolman and Agent Duckhorn entered White's apartment with White's consent. We agree that White's motion to suppress the evidence gathered as a result of the purportedly illegal entry should have been denied and therefore affirm his conviction. 22 White argues that his consent was obtained by deceit because he was not aware of the true identities of the undercover officers who were admitted to his apartment on March 11, 1980. But, White's argument is not that the deceit rendered his consent involuntary. Rather, White argues that allowing consent by deceit after probable cause sufficient to get an arrest warrant has arisen would vitiate Payton's arrest warrant requirement. 23 We would be more receptive to White's argument if the entry had been solely to effect his arrest. 2 In the present case, however, the deceitfully obtained consent was part of an on-going investigation into White's heroin trafficking. Even accepting White's argument that there was probable cause sufficient to get an arrest warrant prior to the entry, we do not believe that an arrest warrant need be obtained as soon as probable cause attaches. Admittedly, the officers conducting this investigation planned to arrest White that evening in his apartment if White produced the heroin as promised. At the same time, if White did not have the heroin for sale, the arrests would not have been made. Pretrial Tr. of July 9, 1980, at 258. The entry into White's apartment served investigative purposes and, as such, the entry was permissible even where White's consent was obtained by a ruse. Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 209-11, 87 S.Ct. 424, 426-27, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966). 3 24 Further, we are unable to see how the requirement of an arrest warrant in the instant case would add to the protection accorded by Payton. Warrant requirements interpose the decision of a neutral and detached magistrate to protect individuals from unfounded invasions of their privacy by preventing unwarranted intrusions. In the instant case, however, a magistrate's determination that probable cause for an arrest warrant was lacking (should such a determination have been made) would not have prevented the ultimate intrusion. The undercover officers would still have been admitted to White's home by posing as heroin purchasers, an entry condoned by Lewis, 385 U.S. at 210-11, 87 S.Ct. at 427, and the officers would have arrested White when they observed the heroin in his possession. It serves no purpose to require an arrest warrant where the same intrusion would occur whether or not the magistrate issues the warrant. We thus agree with the district court's denial of White's suppression motion and affirm his conviction. 4 25