Court Opinion

ID: 9628563
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 09:24:38.927923+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:07.554662
License: Public Domain

Dimmick, J.
(concurring in the result) — I concur in the result but respectfully object to dicta in the majority opinion disapproving the police officers' use of a fictitious arrest warrant to gain entry to a house in order to execute a valid search warrant. The majority recognizes that ruse entries reduce the likelihood of violent confrontations or unnecessary destruction of property. Nevertheless, the majority *560condemns this police action without providing any guidance to law enforcement officials.
The police action, as the majority holds, did not deny the defendant due process. In United States v. Gjieli, 717 F.2d 968 (6th Cir. 1983), cert. denied, 104 S. Ct. 1595 (1984), the court found no due process violation where, pursuant to a bribery investigation, the Assistant United States Attorney obtained a bogus writ of habeas corpus by presenting a false request to a federal district court judge. The appellate court refused to exercise its supervisory powers to reverse the defendant's conviction, despite the government attorney's fraud on the court. In contrast to the offensive behavior of the government attorney in Gjieli, the police officers here worked no fraud on the court but rather, devised a successful ruse which harmed no one.
The execution of search warrants requires a case-by-case evaluation of tactics which may reduce violence and prevent destruction of property. Tying the hands of the police in cases such as this, as the majority attempts to do by condemning the use of fictitious arrest warrants, may well lead to the use of procedures which are clearly permissible but far more dangerous. Unable to effect a peaceful entry by use of a harmless ruse, the police, out of a justified concern for their safety, may approach the area to be searched massively armed, with weapons drawn. Or, to avoid a violent confrontation, the police may be forced to destroy the building's entrance in an effort to execute a search warrant. These tactics have a far greater potential for tragic results than the ruse condemned by the majority. I believe the determination of appropriate methods by which to execute search warrants is a policy decision best left to the discretion and expertise of the police department.