Court Opinion

ID: 9498212
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 17:11:14.621918+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:58:41.428934
License: Public Domain

CANBY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part:
I respectfully dissent from the affir-mance of Stafford’s conviction because I conclude that the warrantless search of the apartment was not justified by the emergency doctrine.1
As the majority opinion recognizes, a warrantless search of a residence is presumptively unreasonable. See, e.g., United States v. Karo, 468 U.S. 705, 714-15, 104 S.Ct. 3296, 82 L.Ed.2d 530 (1984). We have, however, permitted a narrow exception to that rule when the conditions of an emergency are present. United States v. Cervantes, 219 F.3d 882 (9th Cir.2000). The first required condition for an .emergency search is that the “police officers have ‘reasonable grounds to believe that there is an emergency at hand and an immediate need for their assistance’ ”, to preserve life or protect against serious bodily injury. Id. at 889 (quoting People v. Mitchell, 39 N.Y.2d 173, 383 N.Y.S.2d 246, 347 N.E.2d 607, 609 (N.Y.1976)).2 I conclude that this requirement has not been met here.
The fire alarm inspector and maintenance man who serially first entered the apartment were confronted with a strong smell that was strongest in the bathroom, and saw blood and feces strewn about. They were justifiably appalled by the mess and opined that there could be a dead body in the apartment and they would never know. Neither in the living room, the bedroom or the bathroom did either of these men see a body, and they did not tell the police that they had seen a body. Indeed, the maintenance man said that the statement that there could be a body in *1079the apartment was just an indication of what a mess there was. The fire alarm inspector was concerned about the possible presence of a body because of a smell that he thought could be decaying meat or flesh. Both men conveyed their concerns to the officers before the search.
On this highly speculative evidence, it was not objectively reasonable to believe that there was a body in the apartment. Even if that point is open to argument, however, there was certainly no objectively reasonable ground for believing that emergency assistance of the officers was required. The cases holding that the report of a body suffices to create an emergency are grounded in the proposition either that the “body” might not be quite dead, see United States v. Richardson, 208 F.3d 626, 631 (7th Cir.2000), or that other injured persons or a murderer might be present, see Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978). Here, there was no objective support for either possibility. There was blood, but it was dried and explainable by the presence of syringes. There was a smell, but bodies that are not quite dead do not smell like rotting meat. See Richardson, 208 F.3d at 631 (upholding search based 911 upon report of a rape and murder and the location of the body, and noting that “[tjhis is not a case where the report indicated that the body had been languishing in the house for several days.”). In fact, the smell was more readily explained by the maintenance man’s observation, communicated to the police, that the toilet in the bathroom was stopped and there were feces about. There was no reason to believe that anyone was alive in the apartment and in need of assistance; the fire inspector had loudly knocked or announced his entrance before entering any of the rooms, and had seen no evidence that anyone was in the apartment.
Indeed, the officers did not act as if their emergency assistance was required. It was over half an hour after the arrival of the first officer on the scene that the police entered the apartment. In the meantime, they ran license plate checks on vehicles believed possibly to be connected with the apartment, and they conferred with the management of the apartment. It is true, as the majority opinion here says, that some delay does not necessarily negate the existence of an emergency, but in the present circumstances, when others had already entered the apartment and found no live (or dead) persons home, the delay suggests the lack of an emergency. Although the officers’ subjective belief may not enter into the determination whether the first, objective requirements of an emergency are met, see Richardson, 208 F.3d at 630, the officers’ conduct does go to the second requirement of an emergency, to which I now turn.
The second requirement for a permissible emergency search is that “ ‘[a] search must not be primarily motivated by intent to arrest and seize evidence.’ ” Cervantes, 219 F.3d at 890 (quoting Mitchell, 383 N.Y.S.2d 246, 347 N.E.2d at 609). Although there was no direct evidence of a body or another possible victim or injured person in the apartment, there was a good deal of evidence of crime known to the officers before they conducted their search. The fire alarm inspector and the maintenance man reported to the officers that, in the bathroom of the apartment, they had seen hundreds or even thousands of syringes, along with what the fire alarm inspector described as a bunsen burner.3 *1080The fire alarm inspector and maintenance man had also seen blood, which was consistent with intravenous drug use. The condition of the apartment itself was highly consistent with heavy drug use. The fire alarm inspector also told the police that he had seen a gun clip or magazine in the apartment.
The assistant apartment manager also told the officers before the search that the apartment in question was rented to a woman but that a man had also been living there. The manager told the woman that she could either identify the male occupant and put him on the lease,or could pay an extra $100 per month if she wished him to remain anonymous. The woman had chosen to pay the extra $100!
In short, there was clearly probable cause to believe that evidence of crime was to be found in the apartment, but very little reason to believe that an emergency entrance was required. Although I recognize the deference owed to the findings of the district court regarding the underlying facts, on the totality of circumstances I cannot accept a conclusion that this was a true emergency search and not a search for evidence of crime. To my mind, this is exactly the kind of a situation that requires the decision of a neutral magistrate to determine the propriety of a search.
There is no question that the procedures for a telephonic search warrant were in place. The officers were on the scene and the situation in the apartment was not changing. In my view, they were required to secure a warrant before entering the apartment. See United States v. Alvarez, 810 F.2d 879, 882-84 (9th Cir.1987). Not to require a warrant in the circumstances of this case is to dilute impermissibly the protections of the Fourth Amendment. I would therefore reverse the district court’s denial of the motion to suppress, and would remand to permit Stafford to withdraw his plea of guilty.

. If my view that the search was unconstitutional had prevailed, it would have been unnecessary to deal with Stafford’s challenge to his sentence. My view did not prevail, however, and I therefore concur in the majority’s treatment of the sentencing issue and in the limited remand.

. In Cervantes, we adopted the three conditions for an emergency set forth in Mitchell, 383 N.Y.S.2d 246. 347 N.E.2d at 609. with one modification. Mitchell’s first condition referred to the immediate need for “protection of life or property.” Id. In Cervantes we ruled that preservation of life or protection against serious bodily injury would qualify for the emergency exception, but we left open the “more difficult question” whether protection of property would suffice. Cervantes, 219 F.3d at 889 n. 7.

. The fire alarm inspector testified that he believed that there had been drug activity and he suspected a methamphetamine lab, but the officers testified that by the time of the search they did not believe they were dealing with a methamphetamine lab. There is no sugges*1080tion that the officers had reasonable grounds for believing that there was a danger of explosion, which methamphetamine labs often present. See Cervantes, 219 F.3d at 891.