Court Opinion

ID: 9668713
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 02:23:42.686983+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:15:47.602547
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. It is, I believe, a mistake to decide this case from the standpoint of whether the search warrant meets the requirements of a nighttime search. The correct approach, I suggest, is to determine whether the manner and means by which the search warrant was executed constitutes a substantial violation of our rules governing search and seizure of evidence. Ark. R. Crim. P. 16.2. It is, after all, only unreasonable searches that are offensive to the Fourth Amendment. Harris v. United States, 331 U.S. 145, 67 S.Ct. 1098, 91 L.Ed. 1399 (1947). In determining whether the violation was substantial we are obliged to consider all the circumstances, including the extent of deviation from lawful conduct by the officers, the extent to which the violation was willful, the importance of the particular interest violated, the extent to which privacy was invaded. Rule 16.2. When the circumstances of this case are examined, there is no basis for a conclusion that the officers acted improperly in any manner or that the search was in any sense unreasonable. In the late morning of July 27,1990, the day the warrant was issued, appellee Jesse Martinez called Officer Hanes, acting as an undercover agent, to say “I’ve got plenty of what you want” (referring to marijuana). Hanes asked if Martinez could handle a quarter pound and Martinez said “Yeah, that would be easy.” Hanes began the steps to secure a search warrant, which was issued at 6:45 p.m., well within the 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. time frame of Ark. R. Crim. P. 13.2(c). It is evident the officers assumed the warrant would be executed during daytime hours, but when they called Martinez to arrange to come to his house, ostensibly to make the purchase, he put them off on the grounds that he had company. Martinez arranged to meet them near the Mulberry River Bridge on Highway 103, some distance from his home. By the time Martinez arrived it was 8:10 p.m. and so it was 8:48 before the officers could make the arrest and drive to Martinez’s house to begin the search. It is clear the delay was attributable not to improper conduct by the officers, but to arrangements directed by the appellee and which the officers were powerless to counter-mand without arousing his suspicions. Thus, the issue is simply whether under all the circumstances a delay of forty-eight minutes is a “substantial violation” of Rule 13.2(c). The majority rely on Hall v. State, 302 Ark. 341, 789 S.W.2d 456 (1990) and State v. Broadway, 269 Ark. 215, 599 S.W.2d 721 (1980). But the search in Hall was executed between 1:00 a.m. and 3:00 a.m., and Broadway was the product of a sharply divided court and the majority opinion does not tell us what time the warrant was executed, only that it was a nighttime search without the required grounds. But 8:48 on a July evening is hardly the equivalent of 1:00 a.m. It is still light, and there is no evidence these appellees had retired for the evening. In short, this case more nearly resembles Brothers v. State, 261 Ark. 64, 546 S.W.2d 715 (1977) and James v. State, 280 Ark. 359, 658 S.W.2d 382 (1983). In Brothers a search pursuant to a warrant began “about 8:00 p.m. and was completed as soon thereafter as possible.” This court found that not to be a material violation of Rule 13.2(c): In this particular case the failure to strictly comply with Rule 13.2(c) was not willful, no additional invasion of privacy occurred, and appellant suffered no prejudice. Therefore, suppression was not warranted. In James the search commenced at 7:10 p.m. but was interrupted so that the warrant could be amended, which was not reissued until 9:12 p.m. Similarly, in United States v. Koller, 559 F.Supp. 539 (E.D. of Ark. 1983), the federal district court, applying Arkansas law in the interpretation of Rule 13.2(c), denied a motion to suppress where the warrant was signed at 7:55 p.m.. and arrived at approximately 8:10 p.m. at the defendant’s home. Citing the language quoted from Brothers, supra, the district judge wrote: Any failure to strictly comply with Rule 13.2(c) did not violate the policy of prohibiting unexpected searches in the middle of the night, was only a matter of minutes, and did not cause a surprise intrusion into defendant’s privacy. There was no substantial violation of Rule 13.2(c), of federal policy, or the Untied States Constitution. Appellees have made no attempt to show prejudice [Pridgeon v. State, 262 Ark. 428, 559 S.W.2d 4 (1977)] or that the relatively short delay in executing this warrant created any added intrusion into their privacy, or that the delay was attributable to anything other than the instructions interposed by the appellee Jesse Martinez. It is exactly this sort of situation to which United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984) was intended to apply. Holt, C.J., joins.