State v. Hall

• Decision Date: 16 March 1999
• Docket Number: No. 24230,24230
• Citation: 979 P.2d 624,132 Idaho 751
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Charles Eugene HALL, Defendant-Appellant. Boise, January 1999 Term
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 624

979 P.2d 624

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Charles Eugene HALL, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 24230.

Supreme Court of Idaho,

Boise, January 1999 Term.

March 16, 1999.

Rehearing Denied July 7, 1999.

Ellsworth, Kallas, P.L.L.C., Boise, for appellant.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Kimberly A. Coster, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for respondent.

KIDWELL, Justice.

Charles Eugene Hall appeals from the district court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence of drug activity that was found in his motel room as a result of a forcible entry under a warrant of attachment. Hall pled guilty to several drug-related offenses but reserved his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress. We reverse.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Charles Eugene Hall was a registered guest at a Boise motel. The assistant manager of the motel, who suspected that drug activity was occurring in Hall's room, summoned police on the night of February 25, 1997. Detective Tudbury of the Boise Police Department responded. Tudbury observed Hall walking across the parking lot and recognized him. Tudbury requested a records check which revealed that Hall had two outstanding warrants of attachment for contempt of court. The warrants of attachment had been issued for Hall's arrest for failure to pay traffic court fines. On the face of each warrant was a box stamped with the designations of "daytime only," "day or night," and "any public place." The magistrate judge had checked the boxes for "daytime only" and "any public place."

Tudbury and three other police officers returned to the motel on the afternoon of February 26, 1997. Tudbury knocked on the door of Hall's room and identified himself as a police officer. When no one came to the door, Tudbury knocked and identified himself again. Tudbury then used the pass key, supplied by the motel clerk, to unlock the door, but had to force open the chain lock which was fastened. Hall was immediately arrested on the warrants of attachment. The officers saw drug paraphernalia in plain view in the room. Tudbury then filed an affidavit and obtained a search warrant for Hall's motel room.

Hall was charged with possession of marijuana and trafficking in methamphetamine and cocaine. He filed a motion to suppress the drug evidence alleging that the police entry into his motel room was "without a valid search or arrest warrant or any exigent circumstances justifying a warrantless intrusion." The district court denied the motion, holding that the warrants of attachment were the same as warrants of arrest. Pursuant to a Rule 11 agreement, the State dismissed the possession charge and the marijuana charge. Hall subsequently entered a conditional guilty plea to the trafficking charges, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress.

Hall appeals the denial of his motion to suppress. He argues that the forced entry into his motel room pursuant to the two warrants of attachment constituted an unreasonable

search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 17 of the Idaho Constitution.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

In reviewing an order granting or denying a motion to suppress evidence, we will defer to the trial court's factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. Medley, 127 Idaho 182, 185, 898 P.2d 1093, 1096 (1995). However, we exercise free review over the trial court's conclusions of law and whether the constitutional requirements have been satisfied. Id.

III. ANALYSIS

It is a generally established principle of constitutional law that the Fourth Amendment requires that police must obtain a warrant from a judge prior to entering an individual's home without consent to make an arrest. State v. Bradley, 106 Idaho 358, 359, 679 P.2d 635, 636 (1983). While there are numerous exceptions to the warrant requirement, absent a valid exception, a non-consensual entry into a person's home to effectuate an arrest will not be valid. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 577, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). In addition to providing protection against unreasonable searches and seizures in a defendant's home, this Court has found that such protection extends to a temporary home such as a motel room. State v. Johnson, 108 Idaho 619, 622, 701 P.2d 239, 242 (1985) (stating that "police entry into a residential unit, be it a house, apartment, or hotel or motel room, constitutes a search.").

When a warrant has been properly issued for a suspect's arrest, Idaho statutes provide that force may be used to gain entry into the person's home to effect the arrest. Section 19-611 of the Idaho Code permits forcible entries:

To make an arrest, if the offense is a felony, a private citizen, if any public offense, a peace officer, may break open the door or window of the house in which the person to be arrested is, or in which there is reasonable ground for believing him to be, after having demanded admittance and explained the purpose for...