People v. Milton

• Decision Date: 06 April 1992
• Docket Number: No. 91SA361,91SA361
• Citation: 826 P.2d 1282
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas Lee MILTON and Anita Marie Perkins, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 1282

826 P.2d 1282

The PEOPLE of the State of Colorado, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Thomas Lee MILTON and Anita Marie Perkins, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 91SA361.

Supreme Court of Colorado,

En Banc.

April 6, 1992.

James F. Smith, Dist. Atty., Seventeenth Judicial Dist., Michael J. Milne, Sr. Deputy Dist. Atty., Steven L. Bernard, Chief Trial Deputy Dist. Atty., Brighton, for plaintiff-appellant.

David F. Vela, State Public Defender, Carol M. Haller, Deputy State Public Defender, Brighton, for defendant-appellee Thomas Lee Milton.

Vitek & Doniger, P.C., Anne M. Vitek, Jeffrey D. Doniger, Denver, for defendant-appellee Anita Marie Perkins.

Justice VOLLACK delivered the Opinion of the Court.

The People appeal from a district court ruling suppressing evidence that was unconstitutionally seized. We reverse. ¹

I.

At approximately 6:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 6, 1991, four uniformed police officers were dispatched in response to a victim's call. The victim alleged that he had been assaulted by a couple, Thomas Milton (Milton) and Anita Marie Perkins (Perkins), in their home hours earlier. The victim had lacerations on his face, and his clothing was torn. The victim told the officers that Milton and Perkins took his wallet, confined him to a stool with rope for a period of six hours, threatened him with a cleaver and repeatedly struck him, but eventually released him. The officers thought that the victim's story was far-fetched and bizarre, but accompanied the victim to the couple's residence to investigate his story.

The officers arrived at the residence at approximately 6:40 a.m., and three officers approached the house. One of the officers knocked on the door and Milton answered. Milton appeared wearing jeans bearing blood stains. Officer Horton introduced herself and asked if they could step in to discuss an incident that occurred earlier that evening. Milton replied, "Sure," allowed the officers to enter, and stated that he knew what their inquiry regarded.

Milton further stated that he had arrived home to find the victim with his wife, and that the victim, who had martial arts training, threatened Milton with a knife. Milton told the officers that he merely defended himself.

After entering the house, Officer Horton saw additional blood stains, and rope hanging on a chair. Officer Horton later directed Milton out to the front yard, at which point the victim identified Milton to another officer. Milton repeated his previous statements. Officer Horton and Milton reentered the house, and Milton identified the knife with which the victim allegedly threatened him.

One of the officers asked Perkins if she owned a cleaver. Perkins told the officers that she had lost a cleaver from her knife set. Officer Patricia Hobbs asked if she could get the knife set. Perkins agreed and pointed to the cabinet where the set was located. Perkins also told the officers that the victim had approached them earlier in the evening, attempting to sell a stereo, and that a scuffle ensued. The officers collected the chair, the rope and various knives, including a cleaver.

Both Milton and Perkins were placed under arrest. Officer Smith escorted Milton out to a patrol car and advised him of his Miranda rights. Milton indicated that he understood his rights and told Officer Smith that the victim and his wife were on the couch when he arrived home, that he became upset and beat the victim. He also stated that he had tried to kill the victim. After being advised of her rights, Perkins stated that the victim came to their residence earlier that evening, attempting to sell a stereo. Perkins also stated that she went to bed and was not aware of any altercation between Milton and the victim.

Milton and Perkins were later charged with second degree kidnapping and aggravated robbery, and Perkins was additionally charged with menacing. ² Milton and Perkins filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized. The district court ruled that consent to search the residence was not freely and voluntarily given and, therefore, the subsequent search was constitutionally infirm. The People have appealed and contend that consent was properly given and the search was valid under both the Colorado and United States Constitutions. We reverse the district court's order suppressing the physical evidence seized, but do so under the plain view doctrine. ³

II.

This case requires us to determine whether consent to entry of a residence for the purpose of inquiry constitutes a valid intrusion for the purposes of the plain view doctrine. We hold that it does.

The district court expressly ruled:

In looking at the context of what occurred, the Court has to apply the constitutional principle that everyone should be free in their home from unreasonable searches and seizures....

....

The problem is that at 6:40 in the morning four police officers in uniform come to the door and knock on it and the door is opened. And looking out Mr. Milton went--when Officer Hobbs said, "May I come in," and we come in or whoever it was said, "Sure," I can understand why Mr. Milton would say that. There's not much else that he's got to say. And once the officers are in, I think they conducted a search that's not constitutionally permissible.

... The search and the seizure cannot be allowed to stand.

The district court premised its ruling on the law of search and seizure, finding that Milton's consent was invalid. The district court did not, however, precisely delineate to what Milton was consenting.

We find that consent to search was not at issue in this case because the investigating officers did not seek permission to search before collecting the chair, rope, blood scrapings, and knives. The officers only sought permission to enter the residence to discuss the incident reported by the victim. It is well settled that once law enforcement officers are validly inside a residence, they may seize evidence within their plain view. We thus analyze whether the officers validly entered Milton's and Perkins' residence and whether the evidence seized was within their plain view. We begin our analysis with a brief discussion of the plain view doctrine.

III. The Plain View Doctrine

"It is well established that under certain circumstances the police may seize evidence in plain view without a warrant." Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 465, 91 S.Ct. 2022, 2037, 29 L.Ed.2d 564 (1971); see also Horton v. California, 496 U.S. 128, 110 S.Ct. 2301, 2306, 110 L.Ed.2d 112 (1990) (holding that the plain view doctrine is often considered an exception to the general rule that warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable). The plain view doctrine has been applied where police officers are not searching for evidence but "inadvertently come across an incriminating object." Horton, 496 U.S. at ---, 110 S.Ct. at 2307.

The plain view doctrine justifies the warrantless seizure of evidence when the object in plain view possesses a readily apparent incriminating character and when the object is discovered inadvertently. Id. at ---, 110 S.Ct. at 2308. "It is, of course, an essential predicate to any valid warrantless seizure of incriminating evidence that the officer did not violate the Fourth Amendment in arriving at the place from which the evidence could be plainly viewed." Id.; see also Coolidge, 403 U.S. at 465, 91 S.Ct. at 2037 ("Where the initial intrusion that brings the police within plain view of such an article is supported, not by a warrant, but by one of the recognized exceptions to the warrant requirement, the seizure is also legitimate.")

In the present case, the record clearly demonstrates that the items seized were inadvertently discovered and that they possessed incriminating character. We must therefore consider whether the initial intrusion into Milton's residence was valid.

IV. Entry Into the Residence

We are called on to determine whether four uniformed police officers' knocking on a door at 6:40 a.m. and asking for permission to enter to discuss an incident can constitute valid entry if the occupant consents. We conclude that such an approach constitutes valid entry if the occupant's consent to enter is freely and voluntarily given.

We have previously held that "[k]nocking on the door of a residence for the purpose of investigating a crime is reasonable police conduct and does not infringe upon the occupant's right of privacy." People v. Baker, 813 P.2d 331, 333 (Colo.1991) (citing Blincoe v. People, 178 Colo. 34, 36-37, 494 P.2d 1285, 1286 (1972)). "The occupant of the residence retains the right to open the door, or to refuse to open the door...." Id. (citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); Stone v. People, 174 Colo. 504, 485 P.2d 495 (1971)).

We have recognized that law enforcement officers can constitutionally knock on the door of a residence and seek permission to enter to conduct a search of that residence. People v. Thiret, 685 P.2d 193 (Colo.1984); see also Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 223, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 2045, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) (holding that searches conducted pursuant to valid consent are constitutionally permissible); Florida v. Jimeno, --- U.S. ----, ----, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 1803, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991) (recognizing that the Supreme Court has long approved consensual searches because it is reasonable for police to search once they have permission to do so). The rationale justifying consent is grounded in reasonableness. See Jimeno, 500 U.S. at ----, 111 S.Ct. at 1801 (holding that the Fourth Amendment only proscribes searches which are unreasonable) (citing Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 360, 88 S.Ct. 507, 516, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967)); see also Hoffman v. People, 780 P.2d 471, 474 (Colo.1989).

Entry into a residence for the purpose of inquiry contemplates a much lesser degree of intrusion into an occupant's privacy than does entry for the purpose of conducting a search. The reasoning supporting...