Court Opinion

ID: 9646385
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 12:58:34.107454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:37.778647
License: Public Domain

KERN, Associate Judge,
concurring:
My view of this case differs somewhat from that of the majority as I will develop below.
The police went to a certain address armed with a warrant to search a specific apartment for illegal drugs. Once they were outside the apartment, they undertook two separate actions: first, they sought to deceive those inside into admitting them by knocking, asking for a named person, and covering the peephole in the door to prevent themselves from being seen;' and next, when the occupants who answered from inside did not open the door, the police announced their identity and then broke the door down. Upon entry the police found various articles of contraband, including a pistol and a quantity of marijuana, and prevented an occupant from flushing white powder down the toilet.
Each tactic employed by the police, viz., (1) the ruse to achieve peaceful entry and (2) the breaking and entry after giving notice of authority and purpose and upon their belief they had been refused admittance, was in and of itself lawful.1 Appel-lee Bailey argues, however, that the two methods taken together constituted an unlawful search and hence the trial court’s suppression in the instant case should be affirmed. Specifically, he argued (Brief at 9) that the ruse “caused the occupant to move away from the door so that he was not in a position to hear the announcement [of authority and purpose] . . . and that it was unreasonable in those circumstances for the police to conclude that they were being refused admittance.” Appellee Bailey also argued (Brief at 7) that “the natural and foreseeable consequences of that conduct [the unsuccessful ruse] is to drive away the person on the other side of the door — which is exactly what happened here.” In sum, I understand appellee Bailey’s assertion to be that under the peculiar circumstances of this case, the ruse, albeit valid in and of itself, caused conduct inside the apartment enabling the police to claim, wrongfully, that appellees had refused to *170admit them after their announcement of authority and purpose.
The trial court appeared to be persuaded by this argument for it stated during argument on the suppression motion (Record at 19):
THE COURT: ... You call yourself “Elliott,” so you get somebody to come to the door and when you announce that you’re the police, they are in a position to move away from the door, so that you hear them fleeing so that you can knock the door down.
Once the ruse failed, the requirements of 18 U.S.C. § 3109 became applicable. Judge McGowan of the District of Columbia federal circuit court of appeals made a helpful analysis recently of the “refused admittance component” of the statute providing for forceful entry:
As this and other courts have recognized, the “refused admittance” component of 18 U.S.C. § 3109 stands on a different practical footing from the other requirement of “notice of [police] authority and purpose.” To establish the latter, there must be proof of affirmative action by the police, whereas in the case of the former, particularly in the narcotics context, explicit verbal response is hardly to be expected. In such circumstances the statute can only be, but is properly, satisfied by evidence of non-verbal conduct indicating a lack of purpose promptly to respond to the police announcement.2
The federal circuit court here had earlier commented in Masiello v. United States, 115 U.S.App.D.C. 57, 58, 317 F.2d 121, 122 (1963):
Section 3109 provides that the officer may break in to execute a search warrant if, after notice of his authority and purpose, “he is refused admittance.” Nowhere is there any definition of how long officers must wait after giving the statutory notice of authority and purpose. The purpose of the statute, among other things, is to allow the occupant to open the door to admit officers who are legally authorized to enter so that they may execute their duties with the least possible inconvenience to the occupant. But the phrase “refused admittance” is not restricted to an affirmative refusal. Indeed it would be an unusual case coming before the courts where an occupant affirmatively “refused admittance” or otherwise made his refusal known verbally after being given notice pursuant to § 3109. Where, as here, after giving the required notice the officers hear sounds which indicate to them that the evidence sought by the warrant may be in process of destruction, execution of the warrant need not be deferred long enough to allow completion of the process.
I am not persuaded by the argument of appellee Bailey that the peculiar facts of this case demonstrate that the ruse so prejudiced him as to invalidate the subsequent police breaking and entering into the apartment where he was. His assertion that the ruse caused the occupants to move away from the door so as to be unable (a) to hear *171the police announcement and (b) to respond to the door is not borne out in the record. Rather, the police ruse appears to have been designed to lure the occupants to, not away from, the door; indeed, the trial court seems to have concluded the occupants came to the door and heard the police announcement (Record at 19). However, the court made no specific finding to this effect. Moreover, the trial court made no explicit finding on whether the police made an announcement of authority which the statute requires before forcible entry is permitted.
While it is certainly arguable that on this record both a showing of announcement of purpose and a subsequent refusal of admittance have been made by the prosecution at the suppression hearing, I think we should be especially careful in approving forcible entries in executing search warrants; indeed, the Supreme Court has reminded us “The requirement of prior notice of authority and purpose before forcing entry into a home is deeply rooted in our heritage and should not be given grudging application.” Miller v. United States, 357 U.S. 301, 313, 78 S.Ct. 1190, 1198, 2 L.Ed.2d 1332 (1958).
Accordingly, I join in the remand ordered by the majority for further proceedings at which these statutory criteria can be specifically considered and expressly determined.

. The police testimony concerning their breaking and entry was not contradicted.

1 A recent statement of the law in this regard is contained in United States v. Ortiz, 445 F.2d 1100, 1102 n.(8th Cir. 1971), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 993, 92 S.Ct. 541, 30 L.Ed.2d 545 (1971):
The phrase “refused admittance” is not restricted to an affirmative refusal. United States v. Chambers, 382 F.2d 910 (6th Cir. 1967); Masiello v. United States, 115 U.S.App.D.C. 57, 317 F.2d 121 (1963). Rarely if ever is there an affirmative refusal. More often the officers meet with silence as the occupants seek to destroy evidence or escape. Accordingly, whether the failure to respond to an officer’s knock constitutes refused admittance is a question of the circumstances. See United States v. Augello, 368 F.2d 692 (3rd Cir. 1966); McClure v. United States, 332 F.2d 19 (9th Cir. 1964). Ortiz upheld the execution of a search warrant by narcotics agents at 6:45 A.M. on their testimony that, when there was no “immediate response” of any kind to their announcement, the door was forced.
[United States v. Smith, 171 U.S.App.D.C. 342, 349, 520 F.2d 74, 81 (McGowan, J., concurring and dissenting), aff'd following remand, 173 U.S.App.D.C. 313, 524 F.2d 1287 (1975).]