Court Opinion

ID: 9644916
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:08:31.948282+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:20.051693
License: Public Domain

Steele Hays, Justice, dissenting. I see the issue as simply whether police conduct in opening the door as far as the chain latch would permit, with no actual entry, was unreasonable under the circumstances. Rabinowitz v. United States, 339 U.S. 556 (1950). It is clear that police powers are broader in emergency situations. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967); United States v. Rabinowitz, supra. Those situations include saving lives and preserving evidence. Hence, the emergency doctrine is said to encompass the doctrine of “hot pursuit.” Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294 (1967). The police action in this instance can be defended on either ground. While the anonymous caller may have assumed the victim was already dead, her message was ambiguous, indicating that she knew “just that someone had shot a guy last night and that’s him.” Whatever her assumption may have been, the police are not limited to inferences that would thwart prompt action, especially when experience teaches that on occasion people thought to be dead, are not. See Ruiz & Van Denton v. State, 273 Ark. 94, 617 S.W.2d 6 (1981), for example. Officer Honeycutt testified that his purpose in opening the door was to determine if the victim was, in fact, dead. The majority opinion effectively denies the victim the benefit of any doubt. I believe the officer was justified under the law in taking the simple expediency of opening an unlocked door so far as its latch would permit. A.R.Cr.P. Rule 14.3. Had Ronald Sisk been still alive the propriety of the police action would hardly be questioned. I fail to see why we should adopt a rule that discourages, rather than promotes, timely methods by the police to safeguard society. Other jurisdictions have not been hesitant to hold accordingly. Ortega v. State, 669 P.2d 935 (Wyo. 1983); State v. Epperson, 571 S.W.2d 260 (Mo. 1971); State v.Hardin, 90 Nev. 10, 518 P.2d 151 (1974); People v. Brooks, 7 Ill. App. 3d 767, 289 N.E.2d 207 (1972). I would affirm the trial court.