Com. of Pa. v. Romero

• Decision Date: 26 April 2018
• Docket Number: No. 37 EAP 2016,No. 38 EAP 2016,37 EAP 2016,38 EAP 2016
• Citation: 183 A.3d 364
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Angel ROMERO, Appellant Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee v. Wendy Castro, Appellant
• Court: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

183 A.3d 364

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Angel ROMERO, Appellant

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Wendy Castro, Appellant

No. 37 EAP 2016

No. 38 EAP 2016

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued: September 13, 2017

Decided: April 26, 2018

Laurence Anthony Narcisi III, Esq., for Appellants Angel Romero and Wendy Castro.

Lawrence Jonathan Goode, Esq., Alison Jo Guest, Esq., for Appellee Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

SAYLOR, C.J., BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, MUNDY, JJ.

Justice Wecht delivers the Opinion of the Court with respect to Part II(A) and announces the Judgment of the Court. The Opinion is joined in full by Justices Todd and Donohue and Justice Mundy joins Part II(A).

OPINION

JUSTICE WECHT

In these discretionary appeals, we consider an unsettled question in the jurisprudence concerning the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. That provision states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

U.S. CONST. amend. IV.

In Payton v. New York , 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourth Amendment prohibits law enforcement officers from making a warrantless and nonconsensual entry into a residence for the purpose of conducting a routine felony arrest. In dictum expressed at the end of its opinion, the Payton Court stated that a warrant requirement for arrests in the home placed no undue burden on law enforcement, and that "an arrest warrant founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the limited authority to enter a dwelling in which the suspect lives when there is reason to believe the suspect is within." Id. at 603, 100 S.Ct. 1371.¹ The following year, in Steagald v. United States , 451 U.S. 204, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981), the High Court held that a warrant for an individual's arrest does not authorize an entry into the home of a third party not named in the arrest warrant. To protect third parties' interests in the privacy of their homes, the Steagald Court held, the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement mandates a magistrate's determination of probable cause before police may enter those homes in order to search the premises for the individual named in the arrest warrant.

Read together, the Supreme Court's Steagald holding and Payton dictum suggest that an arrest warrant authorizes law enforcement to enter the home of the subject of an arrest warrant in order to effectuate his arrest, but that a separate search warrant is required to enter the home of a third party. Since Steagald , other courts routinely have wrestled with the application of these principles to particular factual circumstances. But the United States Supreme Court has not had occasion to revisit this important constitutional issue. The determination of the controlling rule is critical, because its application frequently will make the difference between a lawful home entry and an unlawful one.

Today's cases require us to consider the central question that distinguishes Steagald 's holding from Payton 's dictum , but which those decisions left wholly unaddressed. Specifically, when a law enforcement officer seeks to execute an arrest warrant inside a home, how it is to be determined that the home is that of the intended arrestee, such that the Payton dictum could apply, rather than the home of a third party, where Steagald will control? Our analysis of this issue necessarily implicates and concerns two principles that stand at the very heart of the Fourth Amendment: the essential protection of the privacy in one's home and the necessity of the warrant requirement.

I. Background

In June 2011, Earnest Moreno absconded from the Diagnostic Rehabilitation Center ("DRC"), a halfway house in Philadelphia to which he had been released on state parole. A warrant was issued for Moreno's arrest, and Parole Agent Sean Finnegan undertook an investigation in order to locate Moreno and take him into custody. On August 26, 2011, Agent Finnegan, assisted by deputies of the United States Marshals Service, attempted to execute the arrest warrant at 4745 North 2^nd Street, Philadelphia, believing that address to be Moreno's most likely place of residence. The residence actually was that of Moreno's half-brother, Angel Romero, and Romero's wife, Wendy Castro.

The agents did not find Moreno in the residence. However, upon searching the basement, the agents observed a large number of plants that appeared to be marijuana. Agent Finnegan contacted the Philadelphia Police Department and notified officers of the suspected marijuana-growing operation. Based upon this information, police officers obtained and executed a search warrant for the premises. This second search yielded sixty-one marijuana plants, a bag of marijuana, high-intensity heat lamps, a scale, a heat sealer, Castro's driver's license, mail addressed to Romero and Castro, a Smith & Wesson 9mm handgun, a loaded magazine, and a box of ammunition. Both Romero and Castro were arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance, 35 P.S. § 780–113(a)(16), possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, 35 P.S. § 780–113(a)(30), conspiracy, 18 Pa.C.S. § 903, and possession of an instrument of crime, 18 Pa.C.S. § 907.

Romero and Castro filed identical pre-trial motions requesting, inter alia , suppression of the evidence obtained from the search of their residence. On February 20, 2015, the trial court held a hearing on Romero's and Castro's motions to suppress. Both Romero and Agent Finnegan testified at the suppression hearing.

Agent Finnegan testified that, after he was tasked with apprehending Moreno, he conducted an investigation to determine Moreno's whereabouts. Agent Finnegan explained that, based upon several pieces of information, he determined 4745 North 2^nd Street to be Moreno's most likely place of residence. See Notes of Testimony, Suppression Hearing ("N.T."), 2/20/2015, at 11–12. First, Agent Finnegan obtained this address from Moreno's most recent driver's license, which had expired in 2007. Second, when Moreno was arrested in 2009, he provided this address to the Philadelphia Police. Moreover, although Agent Finnegan could produce no documentation from DRC, he stated that an individual at DRC had informed him that Moreno used the 4745 North 2^nd Street address as his point of contact while at the facility. Finally, Agent Finnegan testified that his investigation revealed that Moreno had family members residing at that address, but Agent Finnegan refused to reveal how he had obtained this information. Agent Finnegan explained that, due to his involvement with the United States Marshals Service, he would need to consult with the United States Attorney's Office before identifying his source. Id. at 24. Agent Finnegan admitted that there were other possible addresses where Moreno might be residing, but he stated that 4745 North 2^nd Street "seemed to be most likely." Id. at 12.

Agent Finnegan proceeded to recount the circumstances of his August 26, 2011 entry into and search of the Romero/Castro residence. Agent Finnegan stated that, accompanied by his colleagues in the United States Marshals Service, he knocked on the door and announced the officers' presence, and told one of the residents (whose identities were not yet known to the officers) that the officers had an arrest warrant for Moreno and "were allowed in the residence." Id. at 13. Upon further examination, Agent Finnegan clarified that, when the residents were asked whether the authorities could enter, those residents did not say "no," but Agent Finnegan could not recall whether they said "yes." Id. at 14–15. Agent Finnegan testified that the residents began to object to the search of their home once a member of the arrest team began to approach the basement. Id. at 15. Disregarding the residents' objections, the authorities entered the basement, whereupon they discovered the marijuana-growing operation. Agent Finnegan then contacted the Philadelphia Police Department, and "held the scene" until the responding officers arrived. Id. at 17.

Romero testified that, in August 2011, he lived at 4745 North 2^nd Street with Castro and their two children, and that Moreno never resided in that home. Id. at 42–43. Romero explained that Moreno is his half-brother, but that he did not associate with Moreno because Moreno was a heroin addict. Id. at 44–45. Romero testified that he had not spoken to Moreno in approximately fifteen years. Id. at 45. Romero did not know where Moreno lived, did not know where Moreno lived in August 2011, did not know that Moreno had been on parole, and did not know that Moreno had listed 4745 North 2^nd Street on his expired driver's license. Id. Romero further testified that Moreno did not receive mail at that address. Id.

Romero contradicted Agent Finnegan's account of the entry. Romero testified that he and Castro heard a knock on the door, and that Castro opened the door. As soon as she did so, Romero heard a "ruckus." Id. at 44. He got up, and the officers already were inside. Romero testified: "They just told me, 'Shut the fuck up; sit down,' and they said the same thing to [Castro], and they were searching the house." Id. Romero stated that neither he nor Castro consented to the search of their residence. Id.

Romero and Castro argued that the authorities' initial entrance into their home was unlawful under Steagald , in which the Supreme Court held that, absent a search warrant, an arrest warrant does not authorize the entry into a third party's residence. See Steagald , 451 U.S. at 222, 101 S.Ct. 1642. The suppression court reserved its legal conclusion pending further briefing, but placed its findings...