Court Opinion

ID: 9677260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:47:47.21778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:54.832167
License: Public Domain

Sam BIRD, Judge. William Hadl was charged by felony information with attempting to manufacture methamphetamine, possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to use, and possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine. He filed a pretrial motion to suppress evidence of items that police officers seized in a warrantless search of his home and the surrounding premises. The trial court denied the motion after conducting a suppression hearing, and the case proceeded to a jury trial. At trial Hadl renewed his motion to suppress, and it was again denied. At the close of all the evidence the trial court granted a motion for a directed verdict on the charge of attempting to manufacture methamphetamine. The remaining counts were submitted to the jury. Hadl was convicted of possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to use, for which he was sentenced to ten years’ probation, and of possessing drug paraphernalia with intent to manufacture methamphetamine, for which he was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment in the Arkansas Department of Correction and assessed a fine of $100. On appeal he raises two points: (1) that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence because it was obtained by the police tactic of “knock and talk,” and (2) that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence that had been seized by police during the search but that the prosecuting attorney was unable to make available for examination by appellant. We affirm. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence obtained by the police tactic of “knock and talk”  In reviewing a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress, the appellate court makes an independent examination based on the totality of the circumstances and will reverse only if the ruling was clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Muhammad v. State, 337 Ark. 291, 988 S.W.2d 17 (1999); Burris v. State, 330 Ark. 66, 954 S.W.2d 209 (1997). “Knock and talk” is a method used by police officers to obtain valid consent to search. See, e.g., United States v. Powell, 929 F. Supp. 231, 232 (S.D. W.Va. 1996); United States v. Cruz, 838 F. Supp. 535, 543 (D. Utah 1993). The tactic has been used by police officers when there is information that drugs can be found in a residence but probable cause for a search warrant is lacking. See State v. Smith, 488 S.E.2d 210 (N.C. 1997). In Smith, the trial court explained the procedure as follows: The officers . . . proceed to the residence, knock on the door, and ask to be admitted inside. Thereafter gaining entry, the officers inform the person that they’re investigating information that drugs are in the house. The officers then ask for permission to search and apparently are successful in many cases in getting the occupant’s “apparent consent”. 488 S.E.2d 210, 212 (N.C. 1997).  Under Ark. R. Crim. P. 11.1, an officer may conduct searches and make seizures without a search warrant or other color of authority if consent is given to the search or seizure. The consent for a warrantless search of an individual’s home must be given freely and voluntarily, and the burden rests upon the State to prove by clear and positive evidence that consent was given freely and voluntarily. Burdyshaw v. State, 69 Ark. App. 243, 10 S.W.3d 918 (2000). On appeal, the reviewing court makes an independent determination based on the totality of the circumstances to determine if the State has met its burden. Id. Although we have stated that the State must prove that consent was not the product of duress or coercion, we have declined to say that mere acquiescence to lawful authority is not consent. See Evans v. State, 33 Ark. App. 184, 804 S.W.2d 730 (1991), citing Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (1973), and Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543 (1968).  Hadl concedes on appeal, as he did below, that he gave the officers permission to conduct the search and that he never revoked the consent. He argues, however, that the “knock and talk” search is inherently coercive, and that it therefore violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution as well as Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure governing arrest. Hadl also points to the rule of State v. Ferrier, 960 P.2d 927 (Wash. 1998), that prior to entering a house, police officers who conduct a “knock and talk” procedure to gain consent for a warrantless search of a home must inform a person that he or she may lawfully refuse to consent and may revoke the consent at any time. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court has stated that knowledge of the right to refuse consent to search is not a requirement to prove the voluntariness of consent, and that a finding of voluntariness will be affirmed unless that finding is clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Chism v. State, 312 Ark. 559, 853 S.W.2d 255 (1993). Officer Chris Poe of the Jonesboro Police Department testified at both the suppression hearing and at trial. Poe stated that he and Officer Weaver, acting on information about a possible methamphetamine lab, went to a house on Willow Road that turned out to be William Hadl’s home. Poe said that he initially went to the rear of the house and Weaver went to the front, but that Weaver called him to the front of the house after Hadl’s son answered the door. Poe testified that he told Mr. Hadl about the officers’ information, that Hadl denied having a lab at the house, that Poe asked Hadl for consent to search his house, and that Hadl assented and also gave permission for Poe to go to the back of the house. Poe stated that he spent at least an hour in the house, that he found in Mr. Hadl’s bedroom marijuana seeds and drug paraphernalia, and that he found an HCL generator beside the back porch at the rear of the house. Both officers testified that items pertaining to methamphetamine were found outside.  Arkansas case law and rules of criminal procedure do not require police officers who gain consent for a warrantless search of a home to first inform a person that he or she may lawfully refuse to consent and may revoke the consent at any time. In the present case, Officer Poe testified that after he and Officer Weaver approached Hadl’s house, Hadl’s son consented to the officers’ search of the house, and Hadl consented to further search of the premises. The search resulted in seizure of items that led to the charges against Hadl and, ultimately, to his convictions. We find that the officers’ testimony constitutes clear and positive evidence that consent was given freely and voluntarily, and was not the product of duress or coercion. Therefore, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Hadl’s motion to suppress the items that were found as a result of the warrantless search. Whether the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence because the prosecutor was unable to produce certain seized evidence At trial, the State introduced into evidence photographs of the seized items rather than the actual items that were seized. Hadl argues that his motion to suppress the photographs of the evidence should have been granted on the basis that the State destroyed the evidence. He argues that the items could have been subjected to fingerprint identification, and that such fingerprint evidence could have proved exculpatory if the fingerprints were found to belong to someone else. He concedes that the photographs accurately depict the items seized. At the pretrial suppression hearing, the trial court ruled that Hadl could argue to the jury that fingerprints could have been taken as proof of who owned the items but that prints were not taken. At trial the court also ruled that Hadl’s argument of prejudicial destruction of evidence could be made to the jury, and that the absence of items could be the subject of cross-examination. Officer J. P. French of the Jonesboro Police Department and the Second Judicial District Drug Task Force then testified that he took the photographs of the evidentiary items because the chemicals were considered to be hazardous waste. He testified that the hazardous-waste contractor was contacted after the items were tested at the state crime lab, and that the police department had no control of the items after the contractor seized them.  The Supreme Court held in Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), that the prosecution’s suppression of evidence favorable to an accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material to guilt or punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith of the prosecution. In Strickler v. Greene, 527 U.S. 263 (1999), the Brady holding was extended to encompass impeachment evidence as well as exculpatory evidence, and the duty to disclose was held to apply even in the absence of a request by the accused. Larimore v. State, 341 Ark. 397, 17 S.W.3d 87 (2000). Such evidence is material “if there is a reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the proceeding would have been different,” and the rule encompasses evidence “known only to police investigators and not to the prosecutor.” 341 Ark. at 404, 17 S.W.3d at 91 (quoting Strickler, supra).  Hadl states on appeal that he “feels that there is a reasonable probability” that the missing evidence “would have resulted in a different outcome” of his case. We do not view his bare allegation as rising to a reasonable probability that impeachment or exculpatory evidence would have been favorable to his defense. Thus, we find no merit in his contention that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress evidence because the prosecutor was unable to produce the seized items. Affirmed. Jennings, J., agrees. Griffen, J., concurs.