State v. Baca

• Decision Date: 22 November 2006
• Docket Number: No. 25,952.,25,952.
• Citation: 2007 NMCA 016,150 P.3d 1015
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John D. BACA, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

150 P.3d 1015

2007 NMCA 016

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John D. BACA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 25,952.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

November 22, 2006.

Certiorari Denied, No. 30,159, January 25, 2007.

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, James W. Grayson, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee.

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, Catherine A. Begaye, Assistant Appellate Defender Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} Under the emergency assistance doctrine, a law enforcement officer may enter a home without a warrant. See State v. Ryon, 2005-NMSC-005, ¶ 27, 137 N.M. 174, 108 P.3d 1032. In this case a police officer entered Defendant's home after Defendant's employer and Defendant's aunt expressed concerns about Defendant's well being. Defendant had been absent from work with no contact for two days and information received by the officer suggested possible overdose. The officer, along with Defendant's aunt and other family members, entered Defendant's home. After a search, drugs were found. The district court denied Defendant's motion to suppress, ruling that it was reasonable for the officer to enter the home to check on Defendant. We reverse the denial of Defendant's motion to suppress. We hold that the State did not demonstrate the high level of urgency required under Ryon. We also hold that a feasible and effective alternative to police entry was available because a family member was present and available to first enter the house and check on Defendant.

BACKGROUND

{2} We review the testimony in detail because the application of the emergency assistance doctrine is highly fact-dependent. See id. ¶ 30.

Crouch Testimony

{3} Roy Crouch testified that Defendant John Baca was employed with Crouch Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning. Defendant was a "pretty good hand" and was overseeing quite a bit of work. As part of his work duties Defendant was supposed to check in. On the afternoon of June 22, 2004, he did not check in. The following day, Mr. Crouch did not hear from Defendant and was concerned something might be wrong. Mr. Crouch was unable to get in contact with Defendant. The next morning, June 24, Mr. Crouch went to Defendant's house to see what was going on. He knocked on the doors without success. He yelled Defendant's name, banged loudly, and tapped on windows. The Crouch company truck was sitting in the driveway with the keys in it, the windows down, and all of the tools vulnerable. Mr. Crouch returned to his office, called the police, and spoke with Officer Jerry Chaves. Mr. Crouch said he was "quite concerned that something was wrong with John" and was also concerned that the truck was just sitting in the driveway, unlocked, and vulnerable to theft. Mr. Crouch said it was unusual not to be able to get in touch with Defendant.

{4} Officer Chaves met Mr. Crouch at Defendant's house. Officer Chaves banged on the doors without success. The officer allowed Mr. Crouch to take the truck and then the officer left. While Mr. Crouch was preparing to take the truck, but after Officer Chaves had left, a man came from the back side of the house wanting to know what Mr. Crouch was doing. Mr. Crouch knew the man, Dominic Vasquez. Mr. Crouch asked, "where's John?" Mr. Vasquez said, "Well, he's been sick and he's been passed out for a day and a half." Mr. Vasquez also said Defendant was having back problems and had been passed out since Tuesday. Mr. Crouch asked to talk to Defendant and Mr. Vasquez said, "no." Mr. Crouch said, "Well, somebody needs to check on him if he's been out for a day and a half." Mr. Vasquez's response was "we will take care of that."

{5} Mr. Crouch once again called Officer Chaves, told him "there might be a problem," and told him about his conversation with Mr. Vasquez. Mr. Crouch testified that he was "very concerned" by the fact that Defendant had been out for that length of time. Officer Chaves testified that Mr. Crouch also expressed his concern that Defendant had been hanging out with questionable people, such as drug users. Mr. Crouch, however, testified that he did not tell the officer that information until a day or so later. This factual dispute does not affect our analysis in this case because we view the facts in the light most favorable to the State as the prevailing party. See id. ¶ 11.

Officer Chaves' Testimony

{6} Officer Chaves testified that Mr. Crouch called him on June 24, 2004, concerned about an employee that had not been at work for a couple of days. Mr. Crouch told him Defendant was a "model" employee who had not shown up or called in sick. Officer Chaves went to Defendant's residence, characterizing his visit as a "welfare check." He allowed Mr. Crouch to take the Crouch company truck.

{7} Sometime after Officer Chaves left, Mr. Crouch called him again and told him of the conversation with Mr. Vasquez. Officer Chaves' understanding of the situation was that Mr. Vasquez had come up to Mr. Crouch and asked Mr. Crouch why the police had been there. He understood that Mr. Vasquez told Mr. Crouch that Defendant was inside, had been asleep for a day and a half, and was breathing. The officer was told by Mr. Crouch that Defendant was "possibly unconscious." Officer Chaves said he received another call almost immediately after Mr. Crouch's second call, from Lucy Urias, Defendant's aunt, who said she was the owner of the house. She had a key to the house and said Officer Chaves could check on Defendant.

{8} About forty minutes after his first visit, Officer Chaves again arrived at the home to meet Ms. Urias. On arrival, he beat on doors and knocked on windows, made a lot of noise, and announced, "police officer." Officer Chaves also characterized this action as a welfare check. The screen door was latched, and Ms. Urias tried to open it but could not, so Officer Chaves opened it. Ms. Urias then tried to open the front door using her key. The door would not open because there was something holding it closed near the top, so Officer Chaves, with Ms. Urias' permission, forced it open. Immediately inside the door Chaves encountered a woman and Israel "Strawberry" Lopez, a gang member he knew very well. The woman tried to leave but Officer Chaves would not allow it. The officer saw methamphetamine paraphernalia and the television was showing his police car in front of the residence. At that point, Officer Chaves called the drug task force for help. Meanwhile, the aunt and other family members went to the back of the house to check on Defendant. Usually, the officer would not allow family members to go past him like that, but everything happened quickly.

{9} Officer Chaves said he was not doing a drug investigation when he went into the house because that kind of work is extremely dangerous and one would not do that alone, without any back-up. He said he was planning to stand by while the aunt, Ms. Urias, went in.

{10} On cross-examination, Officer Chaves said he suspected that Defendant was suffering from sleep deprivation from methamphetamine abuse, or possible overdose. He did not remember being told, or knowing anything about, pain medication for a back problem. He admitted he knew that somebody was in the house.

{11} On redirect, the court interjected its own questions, asking Officer Chaves if he was concerned about "illness or something wrong." The officer answered, "Other than something maybe with his drug use I can't tell you if he was injured or hurt or anything, no sir." The officer was aware Defendant had been asleep for a long time and said he thought it was a "possible overdose." He said there was a possibility of a person in need of immediate aid. He said he was not involved in crime solving and had no suspicion of criminal activity at the time he entered the house.

Lucy Urias' Testimony

{12} Ms. Urias testified that she owned the house along with two other family members. Defendant rented the house. Someone at her church told her the police had been at the house twice the morning of June 24. She called the police dispatcher to find out why the police had been at her property. Officer Chaves returned her call and told her he had been at the house on a welfare check. She told the officer that she had a key and they agreed to meet at the house. When she arrived, Jeremy Valenzuela, another family member, was already there, knocking on the back door. He told her he was there because Defendant's mother had said she could not get in touch with Defendant. Officer Chaves arrived. She did not tell the officer about her conversation with Mr. Valenzuela. They knocked but still no one answered. The screen door was locked and Ms. Urias told Officer Chaves to pull the screen door open. Even after the key was used, the front door would not open because it was stuck at the top and Ms. Urias gave Officer Chaves permission to push it open. The court asked Ms. Urias if she told Officer Chaves that she was concerned about Defendant's health or welfare, but she could not specifically recall whether she did or not. Her intention of the visit was to see what was wrong. Once inside, she found Defendant passed out.

{13} After this evidence was presented defense counsel argued that there was no immediate need and no emergency sufficient to justify entry under the emergency assistance doctrine. He argued that the investigation was a criminal investigation, which also made the doctrine inapplicable.

{14} The court ruled against Defendant, reasoning that there was concern about Defendant's welfare. Defendant had been asleep or passed out for a day and a half to two days and the court commented that people do not do that without something being wrong. The court further commented that people die from drug overdoses and if they are found soon enough then medical personnel might be able to save them. The court ruled that it was reasonable for the officer to go in under the circumstances.

DISCUSSION

A. Standard of...