Court Opinion

ID: 9702717
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 23:21:49.197334+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:40.789952
License: Public Domain

ELDRIDGE, J.,
dissenting.
The majority decides this case on a ground not litigated at the suppression hearing, not relied on by the Circuit Court in denying the motion to suppress, not the basis for the Court of Special Appeals’ decision, and not presented in either the certiorari petition or the cross-petition. Moreover, the majority resolves in the petitioner’s favor the only issue that was litigated and decided at the suppression hearing.
The majority opinion states (slip opinion at 3): “We hold that the mere issuance of a [search] warrant does not, per se, rise to the level of articulable suspicion needed for an officer to conduct a Terry frisk for weapons.” The majority upholds the search on the ground that “specific information enumerating factors suggesting a possibility of weapons being present on the person or persons who might be in the premises and/or in the place to be searched [was] included within the affidavit to obtain the search warrant” (ibid.).
The entire transcript of the suppression hearing, as set forth in the record extract before this Court, contains utterly no mention of the affidavit or of the facts set forth in the affidavit. Although the affidavit is included in the record before us, the Circuit Court made no reference to it, or to the facts contained thereon, in denying the motion to suppress.
It is clear from the transcript of the suppression hearing that the issue was the “State team’s” or “Task Force’s” policy, in executing a search warrant in every case, to handcuff everyone on the premises and pat them down. The State’s only witness at the suppression hearing, Corporal Kravitz, a member of the Task Force, testified that “the policy was to go in there and handcuff everyone.... That’s the State Team’s policy. * * * And then they ... pat down all the subjects. ...”
*112At the suppression hearing, defense counsel’s argument to the court was a challenge to this policy. He contended: “Your Honor, just because the police officers pursuant to a search warrant enter a residence does not give them a right to detain and search individuals.” The prosecuting attorney countered that “ ‘a warrant to search for contraband found on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to detain the occupants on the premises’ ” and “[additionally, Your Honor, it carries with it the authority to pat those individuals down for weapons.” The suppression judge then asked the prosecuting attorney, “[b]y what authority,” and the arguments over the validity of the Task Force’s policy continued.1
At the conclusion of the arguments, the Circuit Court denied the motion to suppress on the ground that the Task Force’s policy was valid. The court distinguished between a full “search” and a “pat down for weapons.” The court held that, although a detention and full “search” of everyone on the premises may not have been permissible, that “officers pursuant to a search warrant to enter the premises ... have the right to secure the people” and “that the officers did have the right to pat down.” This ruling was in no way based on the “facts” set forth in the affidavit, which were not even mentioned, or the facts of this particular case. There is no indication from the transcript of the suppression hearing that the affidavit was attached to the warrant or was independently before the suppression judge. Instead, the Circuit Court decided that, in any search of premises pursuant to a search warrant, the officers can always handcuff and pat down everyone found in the premises.
This Court has consistently held that “[o]ur review of the trial court’s” ruling on “a motion to suppress evidence under the Fourth Amendment is based solely on the record of the suppression, hearing. * * * We defer to the fact finding of the suppression court and accept the facts as found by that *113court unless clearly erroneous.” Williams v. State, 372 Md. 386, 401, 813 A.2d 231, 240 (2002), and cases there cited. The majority’s decision today is most certainly not based on the record of the suppression hearing or the facts as found by the suppression court.
Moreover, the majority’s decision departs from the apparent basis of the Court of Special Appeals’ affirmance and clearly departs from the question presented in the certiorari petition. The Court of Special Appeals initially agreed with the defendant’s argument at the suppression hearing and disagreed with the basis for the suppression judge’s ruling. The intermediate appellate court held (Dashiell v. State, 143 Md.App. 134, 148-149, 792 A.2d 1185, 1193 (2002), footnote omitted):
“Appellant contends, however, that the police cannot justify a policy of conducting an automatic pat-down of every person on the premises that is named in the search warrant when executing the warrant. We agree. See Ybarra, 444 U.S. at 93-94, 100 S.Ct. 338, 62 L.Ed.2d 238. The constitutionality of a pat-down depends on the particular facts of each case.”
Later, however, the Court of Special Appeals seemed to rely on the fact that a “no-knock” warrant was utilized as providing evidence of a “danger” justifying the Task Force’s policy of handcuffing and patting-down everyone on the premises. Dashiell v. State, supra, 143 Md.App. at 152-153, 792 A.2d at 1195-1196. Thus, the intermediate appellate court seemed to hold that the Task Force’s policy was valid whenever “no-knock” warrants were utilized.
In accordance with the disputed issue at the suppression hearing and the rulings of both courts below, the defendant’s petition for a writ of certiorari presented a single question, namely whether the Task Force’s policy was valid whenever a “no-knock” warrant was issued. The question presented was: “Does a police officer have the authority to detain and ‘pat-down’ every individual present in a home during the execution of a ‘no-knock’ search warrant____” The State’s conditional cross-petition simply added the inevitable discovery issue *114which had been raised in, but not ruled upon by, the suppression court.
Despite the record of the suppression hearing, the ruling of the suppression court, and Maryland Rule 8-131 (b),2 this Court decides the case on a ground not mentioned during the suppression hearing. Such an approach is unfair to the litigants and inconsistent with our decisions. While in the present case it is unfair to the defendant, the same approach in some other case could be used to find grounds for the grant of a suppression motion.
Chief Judge BELL has authorized me to state that he joins this dissenting opinion.

. The only other argument made was by the prosecutor who alternatively contended that "what we have here is a situation of inevitable discovery.” The Circuit Court did not decide this issue.

. Rule 8 — 131(b) provides as follows:
"(b) In Court of Appeals — Additional limitations. (1) Prior appellate decision. Unless otherwise provided by the order granting the writ of certiorari, in reviewing a decision rendered by the Court of Special Appeals or by a circuit court acting in an appellate capacity, the Court of Appeals ordinarily will consider only an issue that has been raised in the petition for certiorari or any cross-petition and that has been preserved for review by the Court of Appeals. Whenever an issue raised in a petition for certiorari or a cross-petition involves, either expressly or implicitly, the assertion that the trial court committed error, the Court of Appeals may consider whether the error was harmless or non-prejudicial even though the matter of harm or prejudice was not raised in the petition or in a cross-petition.”