Court Opinion

ID: 9714189
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:32:38.815413+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:24.158851
License: Public Domain

Clinton, J.,
concurring in the result.
I concur in the result only. A new trial is required because the court should have submitted to the jury, under proper instructions as to the law, the. question of whether or not the defendant was in “legal custody” at the time of the “escape.” It is not for the trial court to make any factual determination of the elements of the crime. In this case, one of the elements is the requirement that the defendant be in legal custody. That is for the jury in every case after they have been properly instructed on the law.
I agree with the principles of law as stated in the syllabi of the majority opinion. However, as applied to the evidence in this case, I believe that the majority has carried the principles of Payton v. New York, Riddick v. New York, 100 S. Ct. 1371 (1980), beyond their proper application.
As indicated in the majority opinion, the officers did not make a physical entry into the home to make the arrest. They rapped on the door. The defendant responded and opened the door. The officers then, after identifying themselves, told the defendant that he was under arrest and described the charge. No physical intrusion was made into the *676home up to that time. After this, the defendant asked to be allowed to change his clothes and invited the officers into the home. Officer Robinson’s testimony was: “He invited us into the home.” At this point, the evidence would support the conclusion that he had submitted to the arrest. He might have closed the door and refused to submit. The officers could not then have entered without a warrant.
Payton says that the chief evil against which the fourth amendment is directed is the unconsented to physical entry of the home. Absent exigent circumstances, “that threshold may not reasonably be crossed without a warrant.” Payton at 1382. Nothing said in Payton prohibits an officer from notifying a person who responds to a rap on the door that he is under arrest. If the person submits and either comes out or invites the officers in, then there has been no intrusion barred by the fourth amendment. Payton does not, even by inference, prohibit an entry by consent after the officers have identified themselves and announced their purpose. There is nothing in Payton which prohibits the person from surrendering at his doorway.