Carroll v. State

• Decision Date: 01 September 1993
• Docket Number: No. 114,114
• Citation: 646 A.2d 376,335 Md. 723
• Parties: Michael CARROLL, v. STATE of Maryland. ,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 723

335 Md. 723

646 A.2d 376

Michael CARROLL, v. STATE of Maryland.

No. 114, Sept. Term, 1993.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Aug. 24, 1994.

Paul J. Feeley, Towson (Paul J. Feeley, Jr. on brief), for petitioner.

Thomas K. Clancy, Asst. Atty. Gen., J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. General, on brief, Baltimore, for respondent.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, KARWACKI, BELL and RAKER, JJ.

RAKER, Judge.

We granted Michael Carroll's petition for a writ of certiorari to consider whether, under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, the Carroll County Deputy Sheriffs' belief that a burglary had recently been committed in Carroll's home justified their warrantless entry into his home. Like the Court of Special Appeals, we conclude that the entry was lawful under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Special Appeals.

I.

Michael Carroll was indicted in the Circuit Court for Carroll County on August 27, 1992, on the charges of manufacturing a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, maintaining a common nuisance and possession of a controlled dangerous substance and drug paraphernalia in violation of Maryland Code (1957, 1992 Repl.Vol.) Art. 27, §§ 286, 287 & 287A. Carroll filed a timely motion to suppress the physical evidence the Carroll County Sheriff's Department seized pursuant to the search and seizure warrant it executed on his residence. The warrant was issued to the deputy sheriffs following their warrantless entry into Carroll's home and was based on their observations made during their initial entry.

The facts which were produced at the suppression hearing were set forth in the affidavit in support of the search and seizure warrant executed at Carroll's residence. No witnesses testified and no other evidence was introduced at the suppression hearing. ¹ The affidavit revealed, in pertinent part, the following [O]n July 24, 1992, [Deputy First Class Mark Gonder (Gonder) ] assisted the Carroll County Sheriff's Department in an attempt to locate and arrest one, Joe Hudson, who had escaped from Work Release at the Detention Center. [Gonder] and Dfc's Lust and Prise went to [6047 Oakland Mills Road, Eldersburg, Maryland] believing that the suspect Hudson might be hiding there. [Gonder] contacted a resident of the upstairs apartment, Terry Lynn Penn. Penn stated Hudson had been there last night at approximately 2300 hrs., but he had left. Penn then gave [Gonder] and other officers permission to search the residence. Upon going to the rear of the residence [Gonder] observed the rear apartment door. The screen door was open and a pane of glass was missing from the door's window and the door was approximately two inches open, it appeared that someone made forced entry into the apartment. [Gonder] then contacted Miss Penn and asked her if the basement apartment was secured. She stated that it was and that the occupant Mike Carroll wouldn't be home until Saturday or Sunday (07-25,26-92). [Gonder] and Dfc Prise then went to the downstairs apartment. [Gonder] identified himself and entered the apartment, continuing to announce his presence. There was no response to [Gonder's] calls. Once inside of the apartment, [Gonder] observed several marijuana plants growing in an area of the apartment. The apartment was unoccupied and the evidence was not disturbed. The apartment was secured by Dfc. Jay Prise of the Carroll County Sheriff's Department.

Deputy First Class Gonder then left the premises to secure a search and seizure warrant. On the same day, the Circuit Court for Carroll County issued a search and seizure warrant to the deputy sheriffs. At 4:00 p.m. that afternoon, they executed the warrant and seized controlled dangerous substances, paraphernalia and firearms from Carroll's apartment.

Based upon these facts, the circuit court granted Carroll's motion to suppress. The State appealed this ruling to the Court of Special Appeals pursuant to Maryland Code (1974, 1989 Repl.Vol.) § 12-302 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article. The Court of Special Appeals reversed the order of the trial court and remanded the case for further proceedings. State v. Carroll, 97 Md.App. 234, 629 A.2d 1247 (1993). We granted certiorari.

The State argues that the deputy sheriffs had probable cause to believe that a burglary was in progress or had recently been committed and that exigent circumstances justified their initial warrantless entry. Carroll contends that the initial warrantless entry did not fall within any of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement and, therefore, violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment.

II.

The validity of the search and seizure warrant issued to the Carroll County Sheriff's Department hinges on the legality of the initial warrantless entry into Carroll's residence. Evidence derived as a result of a prior illegal search or seizure cannot be used as a basis for probable cause in a subsequent application for a search and seizure warrant. Everhart v. State, 274 Md. 459, 481, 337 A.2d 100, 113 (1975); Carter v. State, 274 Md. 411, 438, 337 A.2d 415, 431 (1975). Because the State does not dispute that the search and seizure warrant was based solely upon the deputies' observations made during the initial warrantless entry, the State bears the burden of proving that the initial warrantless entry was justified, People v. Duncan, 42 Cal.3d 91, 227 Cal.Rptr. 654, 656, 720 P.2d 2, 5 (1986), and because the State asserts that the initial warrantless entry was justified under the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, it bears the burden of proving the existence of exigent circumstances. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 455, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2032, 29 L.Ed.2d 564, 576 (1971); McMillian v. State, 325 Md. 272, 282, 600 A.2d 430, 435 (1992).

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution ² prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures and provides that no warrants shall issue without probable cause. The physical entry into the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed, Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 748, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d 732, 742 (1984); United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752, 764 (1972), and the warrant requirement, which is imposed on government agents and officers who seek to enter for the purposes of search, seizure or arrest, is a principal protection against unreasonable intrusions into private dwellings. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 748, 104 S.Ct. at 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d at 742; see also Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586 & n. 24, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1380 & n. 24, 63 L.Ed.2d 639, 650 & n. 24 (1980).

The Fourth Amendment prohibits only those searches and seizures that are unreasonable. Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 249-50, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 1803, 114 L.Ed.2d 297, 302 (1991); McMillian, 325 Md. at 281, 600 A.2d at 434. Moreover, the Supreme Court has recognized that a warrantless search and seizure does not violate the Fourth Amendment when law enforcement officers are faced with exigent circumstances such that there is a "compelling need for official action and no time to secure a warrant." Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U.S. 499, 509, 98 S.Ct. 1942, 1949, 56 L.Ed.2d 486, 498 (1978) (burning building); See also United States v. Santana, 427 U.S. 38, 42-43, 96 S.Ct. 2406, 2409-10, 49 L.Ed.2d 300, 305-06 (1976) (hot pursuit); Warden v. Hayden, 387 U.S. 294, 298-300, 87 S.Ct. 1642, 1645-46, 18 L.Ed.2d 782, 787-88 (1967) (hot pursuit and danger to human life); Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 770-71, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1835-36, 16 L.Ed.2d 908, 919-20 (1966) (imminent destruction of evanescent evidence); Ker v. California, 374 U.S. 23, 37-41, 83 S.Ct. 1623, 1632-34, 10 L.Ed.2d 726, 740-42 (1963) (destruction of evidence).

On several occasions, this Court has considered the applicability of the exigent circumstances exception to various situations involving warrantless entries, searches and seizures. See Oken v. State, 327 Md. 628, 612 A.2d 258 (1992) (warrantless search of home upheld where police had reason to believe injured person or suspects may have been inside), cert. denied, 507 U.S. 931, 113 S.Ct. 1312, 122 L.Ed.2d 700 (1993); McMillian v. State, supra (warrantless entry of private social club held unlawful where no risk of destruction or removal of evidence existed); Stackhouse v. State, 298 Md. 203, 468 A.2d 333 (1983) (presence of defendant's sister did not pose risk of destruction or removal of evidence to justify warrantless search of defendant's attic); Lebedun v. State, 283 Md. 257, 390 A.2d 64 (1978) (emergency situation justified warrantless search of motel room to protect rescue squad and to investigate possible criminal activity); Nilson v. State, 272 Md. 179, 321 A.2d 301 (1974) (warrantless entry of apartment upheld where police had reason to believe that armed robbers were inside and that delay might permit escape); Davis v. State, 236 Md. 389, 204 A.2d 76 (1964) (where police found dead person in defendant's back yard, warrantless search of his home was justified to determine whether more than one person had been victimized), cert. denied, 380 U.S. 966, 85 S.Ct. 1113, 14 L.Ed.2d 156 (1965).

We recently had occasion to consider the emergency exception to the warrant requirement in Oken v. State, supra. In Oken, a Baltimore County police officer went to Oken's townhouse in response to a "suspicious condition" radio call. 327 Md. at 643, 612 A.2d at 265. When he arrived at the scene, the officer was met by the complainant. The complainant told the officer that she believed that her sister was missing and that some harm had come to her. The complainant's belief was based upon the fact that when she arrived...