Davis v. State
Decision Date | 01 May 2002 |
Docket Number | No. 2744,2744 |
Citation | 797 A.2d 84,144 Md. App. 144 |
Parties | Robert DAVIS v. STATE of Maryland. |
Court | Court of Special Appeals of Maryland |
Stacy W. McCormack, Asst. Public Defender (Stephen E. Harris, Public Defender, on the brief), Baltimore, for Appellant.
Kathryn Grill Graeff, Asst. Atty. Gen. (J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen. and Patricia Jassamy, State's Atty. for Baltimore City, on the brief), Baltimore, for Appellee.
Argued before MURPHY, C.J., KRAUSER and LEONARD L. RUBEN (Retired, specially assigned), JJ. MURPHY, Chief Judge.
In the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the Honorable William D. Quarles convicted Robert Davis, appellant, of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. The State's evidence, seized from appellant's residence during the execution of a search warrant issued by the Honorable Kathleen M. Sweeney of the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City, was sufficient to prove him guilty of that offense. Appellant does not argue to the contrary. He does argue, however, that the State's evidence was acquired in violation of his Fourth Amendment right to protection from unreasonable searches, and he presents a single question for our review:
Whether the trial court erred in denying the appellant's motion to suppress all evidence during the execution of the "no-knock" warrant issued in this case.
For the reasons that follow, we shall answer "no" to this question and affirm the judgment of the circuit court.
Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress the evidence on the grounds that (1) the no-knock provision in the search warrant was invalid,1 and (2) the search warrant lacked probable cause. Judge Quarles denied that motion in an oral opinion that included the following findings and conclusions:
The affiants, relying on their experience and training, state their belief that they are likely to encounter firearms in the Boreman Avenue address and request permission for a no-knock entry, which permission was granted.
Richards, 520 U.S. at 394-95, 117 S.Ct. 1416 (1997) (citations omitted). In Richards, although the law enforcement officers did not have no-knock authorization in the search warrant, they proceeded to enter without knocking and announcing based upon observations that they made when they arrived on the scene of the premises to be searched.
Subsequent to Richards, this Court has considered two cases in which we were asked to order suppression of evidence seized as a result of no-knock entries: Wynn v. State, 117 Md.App. 133, 699 A.2d 512 (1997), rev'd on other grounds, 351 Md. 307, 718 A.2d 588 (1998) and Lee v. State, 139 Md.App. 79, 774 A.2d 1183, cert. granted, 366 Md. 246, 783 A.2d 221 (2001). In each of those cases, the search warrant did not include a no-knock provision, and the suppression hearing court accepted the testimony of the law enforcement officers who explained why they believed it was necessary to serve the warrant without announcing their purpose and authority. In each case, we applied Richards, affirming the judgment in Wynn, and reversing the judgment in Lee on the ground that "[t]he record is bare of any evidence of exigent circumstances that could possibly eliminate the constitutional necessity to knock and announce." Lee, 139 Md.App. at 91, 774 A.2d 1183.
In Dashiell v. State, 143 Md.App. 134, 792 A.2d 1185, No. 1182, September Term, 2001 (2002), we rejected the contention that officers serving a "no-knock" warrant had no right to conduct a pre-search pat-down of the persons on the premises when the warrant was served. Although that case did not involve...
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