Court Opinion

ID: 9470785
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 03:15:58.873278+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:42:06.326496
License: Public Domain

NATHANIEL R. JONES, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
I believe that the district court’s entry of the suppression order was correct under the circumstances. Accordingly, I must respectfully dissent from the majority’s decision to reverse it. The majority is correct when it states that the question presented on appeal is whether the warrantless seizure of evidence from the defendant-appellant’s premises on July 21, 1981 was proper under Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 56 L.Ed.2d 486 (1978). This statement of the issue is misleadingly simple, however. While the general principles of Michigan v. Tyler appear clear, the difficulty in determining the reach of its precise holding is apparent not only from this panel’s inability to agree on its application to the present facts, but from the district court’s obvious need to wrestle with the issue and from the Supreme Court’s recent grant of certiorari in a Michigan state court case dealing with this precise question.1
In Tyler there were three entries by firefighters and investigators: (a) during the night while the fire was being extinguished, made by firefighters and a police detective; (b) at 9:00 a.m. the next day, by a fire investigator and the same detective; and (c) a few weeks after the fire when photographs were taken of the burned structure. The Court upheld the warrantless entry for purposes of extinguishing the blaze. Since the nighttime investigation of the cause of the blaze had been “severely hindered by darkness, steam and smoke” the court found that the fire investigator’s re-entry the following morning also did not require a warrant. That entry was viewed as a mere continuation of the first. All later entries absent a warrant were deemed impermissible and the evidence gained in the process properly suppressed.
The precise holding in Tyler is as follows: In summation, we hold that an entry to fight a fire requires no warrant, and that once in the building, officials may remain there for a reasonable time to investigate the cause of the blaze. Thereafter, additional entries to investigate the cause of the fire must be made pursuant to the *281warrant procedures governing administrative searches. Evidence of arson discovered in the course of such investigations is admissible at trial, but if the investigating officials find probable cause to believe that arson has occurred and require further access to gather evidence for a possible prosecution, they may obtain a warrant only upon a traditional showing of probable cause applicable to searches for evidence of crime.
436 U.S. at 511-12, 98 S.Ct. at 1950-51 (citations omitted). The key inquiry then is to determine where within the language of Tyler each of the entries in the present case fits. More precisely, the legality of the morning search of the home on Leander Street turns on whether the entry at approximately 8:00 a.m. on January 21, 1981 was simply a continuation of the first entry or was “an additional entry” which would require the use of a warrant. I am convinced that it falls within the latter category.2
There is no doubt that the initial entry by the firefighters was warranted under Tyler, as were the subsequent entries by the bomb squad and the ATF on that same night. Those were the only warrantless entries Tyler would justify on the facts of this case, however. An examination of the facts in Tyler reveals the basis for the Supreme Court’s determination that the morning entry was a mere continuation of the original one and a similar review of the present case indicates why the two are distinguishable.
In Tyler the blaze was not completely extinguished and the firefighters did not leave the premises until 4:00 a.m. Though investigators had begun their search, the darkness, steam and smoke rendered them unable to continue or to draw any conclusion regarding the cause of the fire. In addition, while some chemicals had been found during the nighttime entry, no judgment as to the presence of criminal activity or arson could have been made at that time. Shortly after daylight, fire investigators returned in an effort to finally determine the cause of the blaze. In discussing the justification for allowing the completion of such an investigation the Court noted:
Fire officials are charged not only with extinguishing fires, but with finding their causes. Prompt determination of the fire’s origin may be necessary to prevent its recurrence, as through the detection of continuing dangers such as faulty wiring or a defective furnace. Immediate investigation may also be necessary to preserve evidence from intentional or accidental destruction. And, of course, the sooner the officials complete their duties, the less will be their subsequent interference with the privacy and the recovery efforts of the victims. For these reasons, officials need no warrant to remain in a building for a reasonable time to investigate the cause of a blaze after it has been extinguished.
While the Tyler Court held that the morning entry was justifiable in light of these continuing concerns, no such concerns existed at the time of the morning entry here.
The blaze at the Leander residence was extinguished by 9:30 p.m., approximately one-half hour after it had begun. Testimony at the hearing indicated that the firefighters actually left the property some 15 minutes before ATF agent Smith and Sergeant Johnston of the Detroit Bomb Squad arrived. At that point, arson investigators were still on the scene. The house was searched thoroughly for some time.3 By *282the time the decision was made to leave the residence, the cause of the fire and the presence of illegal activities (illegal fireworks) had been firmly established. The officers present testified that they were satisfied that the home was secure and that there was no immediate danger to the house or to the life or property of the surrounding residents. If such a danger had existed by virtue of the chemicals or fireworks present, Sergeant Johnston indicated that any necessary removal equipment could and would have been obtained.
The officers testified that the lack of lighting, the fire-damaged condition of the premises and the inconvenience of obtaining the removal equipment prompted the decision to await morning before removing the fireworks and chemicals found in the building. Though it appears that it may have been more convenient or more practical to return at a later time, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the kind of impediments necessitating a cessation of the investigation in Tyler were present here. The sheer length of time which the investigation covered after the fire had been doused, and the conclusions reached during the course of that investigation, indicate that the factors cited in this case, though hindering the removal of the contraband, did not “severely hinder” the investigation.
When the morning entry occurred, no fire-investigation officials were present. The ATF and the bomb squad were the only bodies represented. The sole purpose of the morning entry was the removal and confiscation of the fireworks and chemicals.4
It is clear that the investigative function which the Tyler court sought to protect was fully complete by the time the Leander Street premises were vacated on the night of January 20.5 As the majority notes, “The mere fact that a fire has occurred does not give police officers carte blanche to enter one’s home, even when armed with probable cause to suspect that evidence of a crime may be within the premises.” United States v. Hoffman, supra at note 5 (citing Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. at 505-06, 98 S.Ct. at 1947-48). Tyler attempted to balance the fire victim’s right to privacy against the need to protect everyone from the dangers posed by fire. 1 believe the district court recognized the tension existing between these valid interests and properly dealt with it on the facts presented. Judge Cook noted that, “Where there is a warrantless search, this Court must view very strictly any violations or alleged violations of an individual’s constitutional rights; specifically, under the Fourth Amendment.” Examining the facts with an appropriate degree of scrutiny, he then determined that the circumstances which prompted the officers and agents to leave the property on the evening of January 20, 1981, after a lengthy and extensive search of the premises, did not provide them with a sufficient basis upon which to defer or do *283away with the obtaining of a warrant.6 I wholeheartedly agree.7

. The Supreme Court has accepted certiorari in Michigan v. Clifford, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 812, 74 L.Ed.2d 1012. There, a fire broke out at 5:42 a.m., was extinguished by approximately 7:04 a.m. and the arson investigators arrived at 1:00 p.m. The Michigan court of appeals found that the subsequent entry was impermissible and that evidence seized pursuant thereto should have been suppressed. The issues upon which the Supreme Court accepted certiorari are framed identically to those in the briefs before this Court. Recognizing that there are factual differences between the cases which may or may not warrant contrary results, I believe that a further statement from the Supreme Court regarding the bounds of Michigan v. Tyler would only enhance the decisionmak-ing process of this Court. Accordingly, I feel compelled to not only dissent from the result the majority reaches, but from the decision to reach it as well.

. It is unclear exactly which showing would have been necessary for the acquisition of the warrant. Given that the presence of arson had been largely established, it would appear that probable cause sufficient to justify a criminal warrant would have been necessary. Since I believe that an administrative warrant was a minimum requirement in this case and there was no warrant whatsoever, an analysis of the proper warrant requirements is unnecessary. Suffice it to say that I believe that some warrant should have been obtained before the morning entry.

. There is some discrepancy as to the exact timing. The appellees claim that the investigation proceeded for from one to one and one-half hours. If the majority’s estimated time of departure (12:30 a.m.) is correct, the investigators had examined the house for two and one-half hours, leaving the premises a full three hours after the blaze had been extinguished.

. The majority relies on United States v. Callabrass, 607 F.2d 559 (2d Cir.1979) in support of its claim that the warrantless search was permissible. 1 do not believe Callabrass goes that far. In that case firemen were summoned to a fire in an unoccupied residence. While searching for victims they discovered chemicals, scales, vials and papers. Unsure if the chemicals could have been the cause of the fire, a narcotics expert was called in. Firefighters remained at the scene. When the chemicals were identified as hazardous, a bomb squad was called in to remove them. The other materials were then also seized. All evidence was found to be admissible since the warrantless search was deemed justified. The analysis and holding based upon those facts would only support the proposition that the 10:00 p.m. entry of the ATF agent and the bomb squad were permissible without a warrant and that evidence seized at that time need not be suppressed. A subsequent re-entry was neither considered nor specifically permitted in Calla-brass.

. I find the failure to obtain a warrant particularly troubling given the presence of ample time in which to at least obtain a telephonic warrant. See United States v. Cuaron, 700 F.2d 582 (10th Cir.1983); United States v. McEachin, 670 F.2d 1139 (D.C.Cir.1981); United States v. Baker, 520 F.Supp. 1080 (1981). To justify a re-entry after an eight-hour delay in which no effort to obtain a warrant was made on the basis of exigencies seems to stretch logic and the meaning of the term “exigent circumstances.”

. The fact that the government bears a heavy burden when it attempts to justify any war-rantless search, Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971); United States v. Hoffman, supra, emphasizes the propriety of the district court’s ruling in this case.

. See United States v. Hoffman, 607 F.2d 280 (9th Cir.1979) (reentry unwarranted where blaze was under control and second entry was not for the purpose of either extinguishing the fire or investigating its cause).