Court Opinion

ID: 9569146
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:10:53.854953+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:20:57.667376
License: Public Domain

HUSPENI, Judge
(concurring in part, dissenting in part).
I agree with the majority that the district court’s decision to suppress all evidence seized from respondent’s residence as well as all statements made by respondent, Lisa Lot-ton, M.M., and S.M., will significantly reduce the likelihood of a successful prosecution. See State v. Ronnebaum, 449 N.W.2d 722, 724 (Minn.1990) (quoting State v. Kim, 398 N.W.2d 544, 551 (Minn.1987), for the proposition that critical impact is shown “not only in those cases where the lack of the suppressed evidence completely destroys the state’s ease, but also in those cases where the lack of the suppressed evidence significantly reduces the likelihood of a successful prosecution”).
S.M. testified at the suppression hearing that she believed that she had to talk to the police, that she could not have said “no” when asked if she wanted to see a police officer, and that she believed she had to ride home from school with Officer Grand.
The district court found that S.M. entered the residence followed by Grand, that the glass doors were already open, and that at no time did Grand ask S.M. for her permission to enter, nor did S.M. ask or wave Grand into the residence.
The district court also found that shortly after entering, in response to the sound of the buzzer, S.M. pushed the button unlocking the front security door without having any conversation over the intercom, assuming that this was Harrell, and that after hearing a knock on the apartment door, S.M. opened the door and Harrell entered, without asking permission to enter and without any invitation or motion by S.M. that he should enter.
The district court, sitting as fact-finder, observed S.M.’s demeanor, weighed the cred*846ibility of her testimony, found her to have been “a credible witness at the hearing herein, with no inconsistencies in her testimonies apparent to this court,” and concluded that S.M. had not given consent to enter respondent’s residence.
Consent is a question of fact. Schneckloth v. Bustamante, 412 U.S. 218, 227, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2047, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). Another district court, perhaps including myself, in listening to S.M.’s testimony and in observing her demeanor, might have assessed credibility in such a way as to reach conclusions different from those made here. Either assessment could be properly affirmed by an appellate court. District courts make credibility assessments and find facts as part of their duties. Appellate courts have a narrow standard of review. I would defer to the district court’s credibility assessments and fact finding here and affirm the determination that S.M. did not consent.
The majority, in its analysis, was not required to address the additional issues of the import of Lisa Lotton’s signing of the consent to search form, the admissibility of the evidence seized as a result of that search, and the admissibility of statements made by respondent, Lisa Lotton, S.M. and M.M. I would also, however, affirm the district court in its resolution of those issues. Lisa Lot-ton’s consent to search was gained subsequent to the illegal entry of the officers into respondent’s residence and is the fruit of a search contrary to law; all evidence seized from the residence subsequent to the initial unlawful entry is the fruit of the poisonous tree pursuant to Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484, 83 S.Ct. 407, 415, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963).