Court Opinion

ID: 9650236
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 15:27:27.615767+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:19.155810
License: Public Domain

SPAETH, Judge,
dissenting:
I dissent from the majority’s holding that the search conducted in this case was not violative of the Fourth Amendment or Pa.R.Crim.P. 2007.
Contrary to the majority’s conclusion, the facts here indicate that the police did not wait a reasonable time after announcing their presence before breaking into the residence in question here. Commonwealth v. DeMichel, 442 Pa. 553, 561, 277 A.2d 159, 163 (1971) stands for the proposition that, “even where the police duly announce their identity and purpose, forcible entry is still unreasonable and hence violative of the Fourth Amendment if the occupants of the premises sought to be entered and searched are not first given an opportunity to surrender the premises voluntarily.” The majority points out that the officers “waited twenty seconds [after knocking on the apartment door and announcing their identity and purpose], during which time they overheard telephone conversations and noise of a television, before knocking again. Because there was no answer, the officers proceeded to kick in the door.” The majority says that this is “clear evidence . . . that the occupants were close enough to the door that they could have responded to the police within the time allotted.” I derive a different conclusion from the evidence. I believe the key point here is that the occupants did not have a chance to respond to the original knock and accompanying announcement because they did not hear them. The fact that the activities in the apartment continued unabated for an additional twenty seconds would seem to indicate that there was *589no awareness of the police presence. Since the occupants did not know that the police were about to search the apartment, I do not see how the people here were “first given an opportunity to surrender the premises voluntarily.” Commonwealth v. DeMichel, supra.