Court Opinion

ID: 9658057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 20:45:34.448817+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:51.006847
License: Public Domain

VANDE WALLE, Justice,
concurring specially.
I agree that the order suppressing the evidence should be affirmed. I believe that under the facts of this particular case the unannounced entry to execute a search warrant was unreasonable. I do not intend to cite at length cases which support my position.nor do I intend to attempt to distinguish cases which appear to hold to the contrary. The opinion of Justice Levine for the majority and the opinion of the Chief Justice in dissent have satisfactorily set *791forth the cases which represent the respective points of view. It is sufficient for my purposes to note that cases from other jurisdictions, both State and Federal, can be found to support nearly any position on this subject. Some of them may be distinguishable on their facts.
I believe an open door may under some circumstances justify an unannounced entry to serve a warrant even though the warrant is not a “no-knock” warrant and no exigent circumstances exist. Therefore, I do not join the majority opinion insofar as it holds that in every instance an entry through an open door to a house constitutes an impermissible “breaking” absent an announcement by the law-enforcement officers of their presence and purpose prior to the entry. On the other hand, I cannot agree with the dissenting opinion that un: der the facts of this case the “open” door from the porch to the hallway with the stairs leading to the living area was an invitation to the officers to enter without announcing their presence and purpose.
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I, Section 8, of the North Dakota Constitution prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures. Under the facts of this case, as determined by the trial court, it was unreasonable for the officers to enter the Sakellsons’ residence without announcing their presence and purpose. There were three doors involved in this instance, all of them apparently “open” to various extents. It occurs to me, and should have occurred to the officers, that at some place in entering through the first two doors and climbing the stairs the officers should have announced their presence and purpose; . however, the trial court found that it was not until they had climbed the stairs and were at yet two more doors, leading into the kitchen and living room of the apartment, that the officers knocked and announced their presence.
One of my primary concerns in this case is with the question of whether or not the exclusionary rule should be applied. The issues were argued to us in the nature of a violation of the statute, Section 29-29-08, N.D.C.C. Were this merely a question of a violation of a statute, as opposed to a constitutional protection, I would not apply the exclusionary rule because I do not believe the exclusionary rule is or should be an automatic result of every such violation. However, because the violation in this instance is so apparently that of a basic constitutional protection, i.e., the protection against unreasonable searches, I agree that the application of the exclusionary rule is proper.