Court Opinion

ID: 9585394
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:59:50.999773+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:51.906650
License: Public Domain

BAKES, Justice,
dissenting:
The issue posed in this case is: does an arrest in a private home, pursuant to an officer’s knowledge of an out-of-state warrant for the occupant’s arrest, violate federal constitutional standards? 1 The majority answers the question in the affirmative, but bases that answer on state law principles. Since this country, under federalism, is one united territory, federal constitutional standards cannot be based upon state law principles. If they were so based, fifty different standards would exist, and there would no longer be a “federal” constitutional requirement.
The fallacy of the majority’s argument can easily be shown by an example. In this case, the warrant was issued in Oregon. If the defendant had lived in Ontario, Oregon, and police, with knowledge of the warrant issued in another part of the state, had proceeded to arrest the defendant in his own home, would his federal constitutional rights have been violated? Of course not. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), relied upon by the majority opinion, is clear on that point. Why, then, once the scene is set across a state border, does there suddenly appear to be a violation of federal constitutional principles? In a situation such as this, I cannot see how a federal standard can be violated merely by crossing a state line. The majority’s finding of a violation of the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution is unjustified.
*362The precise question involved in this case is whether the police can enter a home to make an arrest based on their knowledge of an existing felony warrant from another jurisdiction. In Payton v. New York, cited by the majority, the United States Supreme Court held that officers could not enter a person’s home to make an arrest without a warrant, absent consent or exigent circumstances. In Payton the court adopted the reasoning of the Second Circuit in United States v. Reed, 572 F.2d 412 (2d Cir.1978), cert. denied 439 U.S. 913, 99 S.Ct. 283, 58 L.Ed.2d 259:
“To be arrested in the home involves not only the invasion attendant to all arrests but also an invasion of the sanctity of the home. This is simply too substantial an invasion to allow without a warrant, at least in the absence of exigent circumstances, even when it is accomplished under statutory authority and when probable cause is clearly present.” 572 F.2d at 423.
Thus, the concern of the court in Payton was the invasion of the sanctity of the home without the safeguards inherent in the issuance of a warrant by a neutral, detached magistrate. As the United States Supreme Court stated in Payton:
“It is true that an arrest warrant requirement may afford less protection than a search warrant requirement, but it will suffice to interpose the magistrate’s determination of probable cause between the zealous officer and the citizen. If there is sufficient evidence of a citizen’s participation in a felony to persuade a judicial officer that his arrest is justified, it is constitutionally reasonable to require him to open his doors to the officers of the law.” 445 U.S. at 603, 100 S.Ct. at 1388.
The above quote reveals the major concern of the court in Payton. For the protection of constitutional rights, the court wanted participation by a judicial officer in the process leading to a defendant’s arrest in his home. In the present case, a warrant had been issued, and thus a judicial officer had participated in the events leading up to the defendant’s arrest. Thus, the underlying concern of the court in Payton was satisfied. The Payton court, if it were faced with a situation such as this, would no doubt find that no fourth amendment rights had been violated. Their concern, that of a warrantless entry into a private home, is not present here.
It is a fundamental premise of law that once a warrant has been issued, the arresting officer need not have possession of the warrant when making the arrest. United States v. West, 517 F.2d 483 (8th Cir.1975), cert. denied 423 U.S. 948, 96 S.Ct. 365, 46 L.Ed.2d 283; United States v. Holland, 438 F.2d 887 (6th Cir.1971); Barber v. United States, 412 F.2d 775 (5th Cir.1969); United States v. Salliey, 360 F.2d 699 (4th Cir.1966). This is true regardless of where the warrant itself is issued. United States v. Jones, 696 F.2d 479 (7th Cir.1982), cert. denied — U.S. -, 103 S.Ct. 2453, 77 L.Ed.2d 1333 (1983) (arrests made in Indiana based on officer’s knowledge of warrants issued in Illinois); Bandy v. Willingham, 398 F.2d 333 (10th Cir.1968), cert. denied 393 U.S. 1006, 89 S.Ct. 497, 21 L.Ed.2d 470 (arrest in North Dakota validly based on outstanding Idaho warrant); United States v. Tillery, 332 F.Supp. 217 (E.D.Pa.1971) affd 468 F.2d 381 (arrest in Pennsylvania based on warrant issued in District of Columbia).
A perfect example of a case where a state court properly applied federal constitutional principles is People v. Wolgemuth, 69 Ill.2d 154, 13 Ill.Dec. 40, 370 N.E.2d 1067 (1977), cert. denied 436 U.S. 908, 98 S.Ct. 2243, 56 L.Ed.2d 408. In that case, a court in Iowa had issued an arrest warrant for the defendant. Officers in Illinois received information of the defendant’s whereabouts. They proceeded to a private apartment in Illinois and arrested him based on their knowledge of the warrant issued in Iowa. The Illinois Supreme Court, faced with the same argument we are presented with here, made the following comments:
“The fact that an arrest warrant had been issued distinguishes this case from *363that in which police execute a warrant-less entry of a suspect’s home. The primary function of the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment is to interpose prior to an arrest a neutral magistrate’s review of the factual justification for the charges. ... This serves to relieve police officers, ‘engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime,’ of the responsibility of drawing neutral and sober inferences regarding a suspect’s criminality. ... It is this division of responsibility which militates against ‘the dangers of unlimited and unreasonable arrests of persons who are not at the moment committing any crime.’ ... The warrant requirement of the fourth amendment is not frustrated in this case by the distinctive fact that the arrest warrant was issued in a State other than that in which it was executed. Whether a valid foreign warrant is effective in Illinois is a matter of State, not constitutional, law. A suspect’s constitutional right to have a neutral magistrate determine whether probable cause exists for his arrest is not undermined by Illinois’ choice to extend comity to the determination of a magistrate from another State. The entry of the police into defendant’s home was, therefore, properly executed pursuant to a valid Iowa warrant for the defendant’s arrest.” Id. at 1070.
The argument made by the Illinois Supreme Court is peculiarly applicable to the present case. That reasoning should be followed in this case, where the facts are substantially similar.
SHEPARD, J., concurs.

. The majority, with no analysis accompanying its decision, has also ruled that the actions in this case violated the state Constitution. The federal constitutional requirement of a warrant is a strict requirement, and there should be no reason to require a stricter standard under our state Constitution than that required under the federal Constitution.