Court Opinion

ID: 9488742
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:54:44.452352+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:04.987752
License: Public Domain

BRIGHT, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority emphasizes that “the danger of explosive materials present in Boettger’s apartment was an exigent circumstance justifying the search.” Op. at 1412. The record and the district court’s finding belie that assertion. A determination that exigent circumstances do not exist is a question of fact, and can only be reversed for clear error. See United States v. Parris, 17 F.3d 227, 229 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114
S.Ct. 1662, 128 L.Ed.2d 378 (1994). My review of the record finds ample support for the district court’s findings underlying the suppression order.1 I dissent.
The law in this area seems clear: Exigent circumstances exist only where “lives are threatened, a suspect’s escape looms, or evidence is about to be destroyed.” United States v. Johnson, 12 F.3d 760, 764 (8th Cir.1993) (quotations omitted), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 2689, 129 L.Ed.2d 821 (1994). The district court correctly interpreted and applied this law by stating:
(1) The court finds that the explosion to which the firemen responded, and the need to investigate the source of the explosion and eliminate any further danger, was a sufficient exigent circumstance to justify the initial warrantless entry by firemen. Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499 [98 S.Ct. 1942, 56 L.Ed.2d 486] (1978).
(2) The firemen’s delegation of their “render safe” operations to police officials and ATF agents was reasonable due to the discovery of explosive materials which the firemen were not trained in handling. Therefore, the warrantless entry by these officials was justified as a continued response to the exigency created by the explosion itself and, once inside, these officers had the right to seize objects of apparent evidentiary value which were in plain view. Tyler, at 509-10 [98 S.Ct. at 1949-50].
(3) Since darkness and the need for cautionary handling of the explosives by experienced agents hampered the officials’ efforts to remove the explosive materials on the night of February 8th, the court finds that the officials’ warrantless entry into plaintiffs apartment on the morning of February 9th was justified as a continua*1418tion of the initial investigation of the explosion. Tyler, at 511 [98 S.Ct. at 1950-51].
(4) The court finds that the warrantless entry on February 10th was also justified as a continuation of the efforts of officials to remove the explosive materials found during the initial investigation into the cause of the explosion since officials had again been hampered by the need to await the arrival of an experienced Explosive Enforcement Officer (who did not arrive until late in the evening of the 9th) and nightfall.
Dist.Ct.Order at 1-2 (note omitted). The majority, however, contends that the district court’s understanding of this law evaporated when it found that there “wasn’t any exigent circumstance as of the time [law enforcement officials] went in on the 10th,” tr. at 121, to conduct an intensive search of Mr. Boettger’s home. I disagree.
By the morning of February 10th, Mr. Boettger’s entire apartment complex had been evacuated, and his apartment sealed and placed under armed guard. Terry Byer, an explosives enforcement officer of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, examined Mr. Boettger’s apartment on the evening of February 9th, and, leaving an auxiliary fireman behind to guard the apartment, went to spend the night in a motel in another state.2 He provided the crucial testimony regarding the safety of delaying a search:
Q. (defense counsel) Mr. Byer, I believe you stated you stepped one step into the doorway and saw the improvised device sitting on the floor?
A. (Mr. Byer) That is correct.
Q. I take it you left it there?
A. Yes.
Q. I take it it wasn’t a dangerous device to leave sitting there next to the door?
A. Well, I thought it was safer to leave there — it was secured by an armed guard for the evening — than it was to try to transport it to the bomb trailer or to a disposal area that night.
Q. We’ve got an armed guard just right the other side of the door, though. I mean, he wasn’t in any danger?
A I didn’t touch it. I just left it sit. Q. Was the guard in any danger by it being left sitting there?
A. No, sir. No, sir. It had a pyrotechnic-type burning with a fuse.
Q. So the fuse had to be ignited before there would be any danger?
A That or something dropped on it, something of that nature. Could possibly stress the crystals. But it appeared to have been designed to function with a burning-type fuse.
Q. When you all left that night, there wasn’t any danger of anything being lost or destroyed or removed from the apartment, was there?
A Not that I could see or we certainly wouldn’t have left.
Tr. at 109-10 (emphasis added).
The question before the district court was not whether law enforcement officials would have to have special skills or take special precautions to conduct a search, but whether the dictates of public safety authorized a continuing warrantless entry and detailed search of the entire premises. The government’s own witness denied that the circumstances of Mr. Boettger’s apartment constituted such an immediate danger. In light of this testimony, there are simply no grounds for reversing the district court’s finding that sufficient exigent circumstances no longer justified a warrantless search on February 10.
The district court’s written order does contain, however, some ambiguous language which I find troubling. The court stated that
Local, state and federal authorities had seen ample evidence to establish probable cause by the morning of the 9th and had
*1419ample time to have obtained a search warrant. The police guard posted at the apartment had minimized the possibility that any evidence of criminal activity would be lost, destroyed, or removed during the time required to obtain a search warrant. Therefore, any evidence found and seized as a result of the warrantless search on the 10th will be suppressed.
Dist.Ct.Order at 3. That law enforcement officials had time to seek a warrant and failed to do so, however, “is not fatal to [a] finding that exigent circumstances justified [a warrantless] entry.” United States v. Palumbo, 735 F.2d 1095, 1097 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 934, 105 S.Ct. 332, 83 L.Ed.2d 268 (1984). As it is unclear whether the district court based its suppression order on the lack of exigent circumstances or on law enforcement officials’ failure to seek a warrant, I would remand this case to the district court for a clarification of its findings.

. I believe the record also supports the district court's finding that law enforcement officials conducted the February 10 th search to obtain evidence of a crime. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) personnel at Mr. Boettger's home referred to it as a "crime scene,” and ATF officer Terry Byer testified that, after removal of the only bomb in plain sight, Byer, "Special Agent Bill Buford, and Rob Williams and bomb technician John Miller went back in [the apartment] and started going through the debris in the residence and collecting evidence.” Tr. at 108.
Additionally, Julie Freese, one of the ATF agents, served as the "evidence technician” (tr. at 108) on February 10th and "recorded each piece of evidence as it was ... brought out ... from the house.” Tr. at 76.

. ATF agents Julie Freese and Bill Buford also examined Mr. Boettger’s apartment on the evening of the 9th before departing for hotel accommodations in a neighboring state. Ms. Freese and Mr. Buford believed that the guard left behind was from the Lake Village Police Department, but were unsure if he was a retired auxiliary police officer or if he had any specialized training, and made no attempt to ascertain the guard's credentials. See Tr. at 81 (testimony of Ms. Freese), 98 (testimony of Mr. Buford).