Court Opinion

ID: 9573047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:47:08.98451+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:36:17.142578
License: Public Domain

RIGGS, J.,
dissenting.
I do not agree that defendant was unlawfully searched incident to arrest for delivery of a controlled substance, ORS 475.992(1), or frequenting a place where controlled substances are used. ORS 167.222.1 also do not agree that the police could not reasonably conclude that defendant was an occupant of the premises and was, therefore, within the scope of the search warrant.
*127As defendant acknowledges in his brief, he walked into Harden’s apartment without knocking, while the police were executing a warrant to search the premises. The police already had discovered items that apparently belonged to persons other than Harden, and it was not unreasonable to conclude that more than one person was occupying the premises. The majority opinion contains other facts that I believe could have led reasonable police officers to conclude that the Harden residence was a place where controlled substances were kept and sold.
Defendant does not attack the scope of the warrant or the lack of particularity of the descriptions of the persons to be searched. The police were not required to believe defendant’s protestations that he was merely a visitor, especially in the light of the familiar manner with which he entered the premises. That, coupled with the officers’ experience that people who enter premises during execution of search warrants are often untruthful about their identity and connection with the premises, makes the search reasonable as incident to arrest based either on probable cause for “delivery” or “frequenting” or pursuant to the search warrant.
As LaFave sums up the law in this area:
“At first blush, [cases allowing the search of a person who enters premises during the execution of a warrant] would seem to be in error for the reason that a person entering could hardly be believed to have the objects which the search warrant affidavit establishes are probably already within the premises. But where the search warrant is not for one specific object (e.g., a stolen diamond ring) but rather for a type of goods (e.g., narcotics, gambling paraphernalia) which are likely present because of ongoing criminal activity involving such goods, there is no inherent inconsistency in asserting that the person entering during the search may have the described goods on his person.
“In Ybarra [v. Illinois, 444 US 85, 100 S Ct 338, 62 L Ed 2d 128 (1979)], the Court concluded that on the facts there present probable cause to search the customers [of a tavern] was lacking. The Court properly stressed that the search warrant affidavit made no mention of involvement by any patrons of the bar and that upon police entry ‘Ybarra made no gestures indicative of criminal conduct, made no movements that might suggest an attempt to conceal contraband, *128and said nothing of a suspicious nature to the police officers.’ Ybarra is an easy case in the light of those facts and another factor not mentioned by the Court: because the premises were a public place then open for business, the police did not have to give notice prior to entry and thus there was no reason to believe that occupants of the premises were engaged in an attempt to thwart successful execution of the warrant by concealing the heroin on their persons prior to the police entry. Without suggesting that the probable cause required by Ybarra is inevitably present when the warrant is for private premises and the requisite notice is given prior to entry, it is fair to say that such a case does necessitate a somewhat different assessment than was permissible on the facts of Ybarra. But the requisite probable cause is most likely to be deemed present if the person searched lives at the place searched, engaged in suspicious or incriminating conduct, or was found in immediate proximity to contraband in open view.” 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure 295, § 4.9(c) (2d ed 1987). (Emphasis in original.)
For these reasons, I dissent.