Mendez v. People, 98SC66.

• Decision Date: 20 September 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98SC66.,98SC66.
• Citation: 986 P.2d 275
• Parties: Edgar MENDEZ, Petitioner, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

986 P.2d 275

Edgar MENDEZ, Petitioner, v. The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Respondent.

No. 98SC66.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

September 20, 1999.

Rehearing Denied October 18, 1999.¹

David F. Vela, Colorado State Public Defender

Andrew C. Heher, Deputy State Public Defender, Denver, Colorado,Attorneys for Petitioner.

Ken Salazar, Attorney General, Barbara McDonnell, Chief Deputy Attorney General, Michael E. McLachlan, Solicitor General, John Daniel Dailey, Assistant Solicitor General, Laurie A. Booras, Assistant Attorney General, Appellant Division, Denver, Colorado,Attorneys for Respondent. Justice RICE delivered the Opinion of the Court.

We granted certiorari in order to review People v. Mendez, 948 P.2d 105 (Colo.App. 1997), in which the court of appeals affirmed the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion to suppress evidence. Defendant argues that evidence seized as a result of a warrantless search of his motel room was taken in violation of his constitutional rights and should have been suppressed at his trial on charges of possession of cocaine and marijuana. We conclude that in seizing the evidence in question, the police acted in conformity with the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

I. FACTS

The evidence taken at the suppression hearing established the following facts. At approximately midnight on March 23, 1995, Denver police officers Edwin Morales and Ryan Kasperson were called to a local motel in order to investigate a complaint that an unregistered guest was trespassing in one of the rooms on the second floor of the motel. Upon arriving at the motel, Officer Morales and his partner learned that two other officers had already arrived and were in the process of issuing a summons to the alleged trespasser. The officers on the scene, however, were missing a necessary form, so Officer Morales volunteered to go back to his police car in order to retrieve it.

While Officer Morales was waiting for the elevator, he smelled the "strong odor of burning marijuana" emanating from under the door of room 209, which was directly across from the elevator. Officer Morales testified that he had received extensive training in identifying the odor of burning marijuana during his sixteen years on the police force. Officer Morales summoned Officer Kasperson over to the door and asked him to verify his suspicion that there was marijuana burning in the room. Officer Kasperson agreed with Officer Morales' initial assessment. Officer Morales then asked the motel manager, who was down the hall speaking to the other officers regarding the trespassing complaint, to come over to room 209. Fearing that the occupant of the room had heard the police activity in the hallway and would attempt to flush evidence of the drug use down the motel room toilet, Officer Morales asked the motel manager to open the door with his master key. The manager complied and Officer Morales entered the room.

When Officer Morales entered the room, he observed the defendant, Edgar Mendez, running into the motel room bathroom. He then heard the toilet flushing. He also saw a baggie of what appeared to be marijuana and a few syringes on the dresser. Officer Morales escorted Mendez out of the room and placed him under arrest. A subsequent inventory search conducted at the police station revealed a bag of cocaine in Mendez's pants pocket. Mendez was subsequently charged with possession of cocaine and marijuana.

Prior to his trial, Mendez moved to suppress all evidence derived as a result of the warrantless entry into his motel room on the grounds that the search violated his rights under the United States and Colorado Constitutions. At the close of the suppression hearing, the trial court denied Mendez's motion, holding that Officer Morales' entry into the motel room was lawful. Specifically, the court found credible Officer Morales' testimony that he had smelled the distinct and strong odor of burning marijuana coming from under the door of room 209. The court went on to conclude that, given Officer Morales' experience in identifying the odor of burning marijuana, the smell "entitled [him] to enter the room [and,] given the exigent circumstances, [it was] necessary to secure the premises before the drugs were either used and/or consumed." The court also noted two other factors in support of its holding that the circumstances surrounding the entry were exigent; namely that Mendez may have been alerted to the presence of multiple police officers in the hallway and that the motel was a "transient apartment living place" where Mendez could check out and leave before the officers could have time to obtain a search warrant. Accordingly, the court held that the evidence seized in plain view in the motel room and during the inventory search at the police station was admissible at Mendez's trial.

After a trial to a jury, Mendez was convicted of both counts of possession of a controlled substance. He appealed the conviction, claiming that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. The court of appeals affirmed the trial court, holding that the requisite probable cause and exigent circumstances existed to justify a warrantless entry into Mendez's motel room. This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article II, section 7 of the Colorado Constitution proscribe all unreasonable searches and seizures.² Under these provisions, a warrantless search is invalid unless it is supported by probable cause and is justified under one of the narrowly defined exceptions to the warrant requirement. See People v. Garcia, 752 P.2d 570, 581 (Colo.1988)

. One such exception applies when exigent circumstances exist that necessitate immediate police action. See People v. Kluhsman, 980 P.2d 529, 534 (Colo. 1999); see also People v. McKinstry, 843 P.2d 18, 19-20 (Colo.1995); People v. Malczewski, 744 P.2d 62, 66 (Colo.1987). We have invoked the exigent circumstances exception in the following three situations: (1) the bona fide "hot pursuit" of a fleeing suspect; (2) the risk of immediate destruction of evidence; or (3) a colorable claim of an emergency which threatens the life or safety of another. See Kluhsman, 980 P.2d at 534; People v. Higbee, 802 P.2d 1085, 1088 (Colo.1990). In these three circumstances, evidence discovered in the course of a warrantless search is admissible if the prosecution establishes both probable cause to support the search and exigent circumstances justifying the unauthorized entry. See Kluhsman, 980 P.2d at 534; see also People v. Crawford, 891 P.2d 255, 258 (Colo.1995). Finally, the scope of the intrusion must be strictly circumscribed by the exigency justifying the initiation of the warrantless intrusion. See People v. Wright, 804 P.2d 866, 869 (Colo.1991).³

While the prosecution in the instant case concedes that Officer Morales entered Mr. Mendez's motel room without a search warrant, the state argues that this search falls within the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement.⁴ Therefore, the prosecution argues that the marijuana seen in plain view on the motel dresser and the cocaine found in Mendez's pocket during the inventory search following his arrest were the products of a legal entry and search. Conversely, Mendez argues that neither the requisite probable cause nor exigent circumstances existed to justify Officer Morales' warrantless entry into his motel room.

Our task, then, is to determine whether the legal prerequisites of probable cause and exigent circumstances existed prior to Officer Morales' entry into the motel room. In conducting our appellate review, we give deference to the trial court's findings of fact and will not overturn them so long as they are supported by competent evidence in the record. See People v. Raffaelli, 647 P.2d 230, 236 (Colo.1982)

. However, an ultimate conclusion of constitutional law that is inconsistent with or unsupported by evidentiary findings is subject to correction by a reviewing court. See People v. Quezada, 731 P.2d 730, 732-33 (Colo.1987).

When the controlling facts are undisputed, the legal effect of those facts constitutes a question of law which is subject to de novo review. See People v. D.F., 933 P.2d 9, 14 (Colo.1997)

; Lakeview Assocs. v. Maes, 907 P.2d 580, 583-84 (Colo.1995). Furthermore, in our review we are bound to rely only upon facts that Officer Morales knew prior to his warrantless entry of Mendez's motel room. See People v. Miller, 773 P.2d 1053, 1057 (Colo.1989). Finally, the prosecution bears the burden of showing that probable cause and exigent circumstances existed to justify the warrantless entry. See id.

A. PROBABLE CAUSE

Although the constitutional requirement of a warrant can be excused under exigent circumstances, the probable cause requirements are "at least as strict in warrantless searches as in those [executed] pursuant to a warrant." See People v. Thompson, 185 Colo. 208, 210, 523 P.2d 128, 131 (Colo.1974)

. Accordingly, we begin our review of the constitutionality of this search by examining whether Officer Morales had probable cause to enter Mendez's motel room.

In the case of a search, probable cause requires police to establish that reasonable grounds existed to believe that contraband or evidence of criminal activity is located in the area to be searched. See People v. Melgosa, 753 P.2d 221, 225 (Colo. 1988)

. The analysis of probable cause under both the state and federal constitutions requires us to look at the totality of the circumstances. See People v. Turcotte-Schaeffer, 843 P.2d 658, 660 (Colo.1993). The probable cause standard does not lend itself to mathematical certainties and should not be laden with hypertechnical interpretations or rigid legal rules. See People v. Altman, 960 P.2d 1164, 1167 (Colo.1998). Rather, judges, considering all of the...