U.S. v. Stafford, 04-30134.

• Decision Date: 03 August 2005
• Docket Number: No. 04-30134.,04-30134.
• Citation: 416 F.3d 1068
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Matthew STAFFORD, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

416 F.3d 1068

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Matthew STAFFORD, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 04-30134.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Submitted April 6, 2005.^*

Filed August 3, 2005.

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David B. Koch, Nielsen, Broman & Koch, PLLC, Seattle, WA, for the defendant-appellant.

Michael J. Lang, Assistant United States Attorney, Seattle, WA, for the plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington; Robert S. Lasnik, Chief U.S. District Judge, Presiding. D.C. No. CR-03-00169-RSL.

Before: CANBY, TALLMAN, and RAWLINSON, Circuit Judges.

TALLMAN, Circuit Judge:

On the afternoon of January 22, 2003, Snohomish County, Washington, Sheriff's officers responded to a report of a possible dead body inside what witnesses described as a blood-spattered apartment in a state of disarray. In the course of looking for a possibly injured or deceased person, the deputies saw two assault rifles, a suspected grenade launcher, ammunition, and photographs of a man apparently injecting drugs intravenously while sitting in the bathroom of what appeared to be the same apartment.

As a result of this entry, observation, and subsequent seizure of the weapons, Matthew Stafford was charged with and convicted of two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment. On appeal, he challenges the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during the warrantless search. He also argues that, in light of United States v. Booker, ___ U.S. ___, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), his sentence constitutes plain error. We hold that the warrantless entry was reasonably justified by the emergency doctrine, and that the rifles and ammunition seized were properly admitted into evidence under the plain view exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. We remand the case to permit the district court to consider whether it would have sentenced Stafford differently under the advisory, rather than the mandatory, United States Sentencing Guidelines. See United States v. Ameline, 409 F.3d 1073, 1084 (9th Cir.2005) (en banc). Accordingly, we affirm the district court's denial of Stafford's motion to suppress and remand pursuant to Ameline.

I

On January 22, 2003, fire alarm technician Day was performing a pre-scheduled annual fire alarm check in every unit at an apartment complex. The checks were uneventful until he reached unit F-202, where he noticed a strong odor, "like a dog, or organic," emanating from behind the front door. He entered the unit. After testing the fire alarm in the living room, he entered the master bedroom to test the second fire alarm. He encountered some difficulty entering because the door to the bedroom appeared to have been kicked in and was blocked on the other side by a container. When he was able to get through, he noticed that the strange odor intensified and that the room was splattered and smeared with large quantities of blood and feces — on the wall, on the floor, on a bunch of bloody rags — and that it looked as though "there had been a brawl." He peeked into the unlit bathroom, in a similar condition, whereupon the smell became overpowering. He also noticed what appeared to be a bunsen burner as well as hundreds of needles.¹ Upon seeing this, he became worried that there might be a dead body in the unit and felt that he had to leave the apartment and call maintenance because this was an issue "of grave concern."

Day immediately told the maintenance person, Atkinson, that they should call the police because there could be a dead body or a methamphetamine laboratory in the unit, and that he had not had a chance to view much of the bathroom before exiting. Atkinson peeked in and agreed with Day that there could be a dead body inside. Atkinson then contacted the property manager, who called 911 and relayed their concerns and a description of the unit's interior to the sheriff's dispatcher.

Snohomish County Deputy Sheriff Bond was the first officer to arrive at around 2:32 p.m. He spoke with the manager and confirmed the witness reports of blood, feces, needles, a strong odor, and a possible dead body in unit F-202. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Haley arrived and was briefed by Bond and the others. Following department policy for calls involving a possible dead body, Deputy Bond called for a supervising sergeant because he thought that the situation might require a "forced entry." While waiting for the sergeant to arrive, Deputies Bond and Haley performed checks of license plates associated with the unit to determine more information about what they might be facing and to try to identify the resident or victim in the apartment.

All three officers entered unit F-202 when the sergeant arrived, less than thirty minutes after Deputy Bond first responded to the call. All of the officers entered with their weapons drawn because they did not know what to expect inside. At the suppression hearing, the officers testified that their primary concern was the possibility of locating a victim inside unit F-202.

The officers first cleared the kitchen, alcove, and living room. Before entering the master bedroom, Deputy Haley noticed a single, green-tipped bullet which he knew to be consistent with armor-piercing ammunition. The master bedroom contained two closed doors. Deputy Haley opened one of the doors to a closet, and saw the barrels of two military AR-15 assault rifles behind a storage container. On top of the storage container was a military-style camouflage bulletproof vest and a magazine of 9 mm handgun ammunition; all of this ammunition was also green-tipped. The officers then proceeded to the second door, which led to the bathroom. Blood and feces were smeared on every surface in the bathroom and there was a trash bag full of bloody bandages and hypodermic needles in the corner. The counter and floor were littered with needles and other drug paraphernalia. Additionally, the officers found photographs of a white male sitting on a chair in what appeared to be the bathroom in unit F-202, portrayed in a similar state of disarray. The man had a belt around his arm and was injecting what appeared to be intravenous drugs; there was blood streaming down his arm from the needle site, and a handgun rested on the countertop.

After securing the area and satisfying themselves that, despite the odor, no one remained inside the unit, the officers removed the weapons from the closet. While removing the magazines from each of the rifles for safety purposes, they noticed that this ammunition was green-tipped as well. They also discovered that one of the rifles had what looked like a grenade launcher mounted on it with the serial number obliterated. They took custody of the weapons because they believed that they were contraband and because they were concerned that the man depicted as using drugs in the photographs would return.

Stafford was later identified as the man in the photographs and a co-inhabitant of the unit. He was charged with two counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(3), 922(g)(9), and 924(a)(2). He moved to suppress the evidence obtained from unit F-202, arguing that it was the product of an unreasonable search. The district court denied the motion after an evidentiary hearing. Stafford subsequently entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to 72 months of imprisonment. This appeal followed.

II

A

We review the lawfulness of a search and seizure de novo, and we review the findings of fact underlying the district court's determination of lawfulness for clear error. United States v. Deemer, 354 F.3d 1130, 1132 (9th Cir.2004).

Generally, the Fourth Amendment prohibits officers from entering and searching a residence without first obtaining a warrant. United States v. Cervantes, 219 F.3d 882, 887 (9th Cir.2000); see also United States v. Carbajal, 956 F.2d 924, 930 (9th Cir.1992) ("The Fourth Amendment incorporates a strong preference for search warrants.") (citation omitted). There exists, however, a narrow set of rigorously guarded exceptions to this warrant requirement. One such exception is the emergency doctrine, which we recently recognized and adopted in Cervantes. 219 F.3d at 887-89.

The emergency doctrine allows law enforcement officers to enter and secure premises without a warrant when they are responding to a perceived emergency. Id. at 888; see also Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978) (noting that "[nu]merous state and federal cases" have recognized that police may respond to emergency situations without a warrant) (internal citations omitted). The emergency doctrine is based on and justified by the fact that, in addition to their role as criminal investigators and law enforcers, the police also function as community caretakers. Cervantes, 219 F.3d at 889; see also Mincey, 437 U.S. at 392, 98 S.Ct. 2408 (noting that the Court did "not question the right of the police to respond to emergency situations"); Cady v. Dombrowski, 413 U.S. 433, 441, 93 S.Ct. 2523, 37 L.Ed.2d 706 (1973) (discussing the community caretaking function of police officers).²

The following three requirements must be satisfied in order to justify a warrantless search under the emergency doctrine:

(1) The police must have reasonable grounds to believe that there is an emergency at hand and an immediate need for their assistance for the protection of life or property.

(2) The search must not be primarily motivated by intent to arrest and seize evidence.

(3) There must be some reasonable basis, approximating probable cause, to associate the emergency with the area or place to be searched.

Cervantes, 219 F.3d at 888 (quoting People v. Mitchell, 39 N.Y.2d 173, 383 N.Y.S.2d 246, 347 N.E.2d 607, 609 (1976)). We judge whether or not the emergency...