State v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 17 October 2006
• Docket Number: No. 28,2660.,28,2660.
• Citation: 2006 NMSC 049,146 P.3d 298
• Parties: STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Randy JOHNSON, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court

146 P.3d 298

2006 NMSC 049

STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Petitioner, v. Randy JOHNSON, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 28,2660.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

October 17, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Patricia A. Madrid, Attorney General, Arthur W. Pepin, Assistant Attorney General, Santa Fe, NM, for Petitioner.

John Bigelow, Chief Public Defender, Trace L. Rabern, Assistant Appellate Defender, Santa Fe, NM, for Respondent.

OPINION

MAES, Justice.

{1} Defendant Randy Johnson was charged with trafficking by manufacturing methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. Defendant moved to suppress the evidence on the basis that the officers violated the requirement that officers must knock and announce their presence and purpose when executing a search warrant. After the trial court denied the motion, Defendant appealed the issue. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court's denial of the motion, concluding that no exigent circumstances existed and in the absence of exigency, the police violated the knock-and-announce rule. We granted certiorari and hold that the officers did not violate the rule because they knocked and announced their presence and purpose for at least ten seconds before forcibly entering Defendant's motel room. Under the totality of the circumstances, this interval was a reasonable length of time to conclude that they were being denied admittance.

I. Background

{2} At 6:15 a.m. on a Saturday morning, several Bernalillo County deputies executed a valid warrant to search Defendant's motel room. Detective John Sharkey initiated the search by knocking forcefully on Defendant's door, shouting "Sheriff's Department" and "Search Warrant" repeatedly as he did so. After a period of at least ten seconds with no response from inside the room, a second officer, Detective Chavez, began using a battering ram to break the locked door. During the period of approximately twelve seconds it took Detective Chavez to break open the door, Detective Sharkey continued to announce the officers' presence and purpose. After at least six swings with the battering ram, the door gave way and the officers entered the room.

{3} When the officers entered, Defendant was standing just inside the door. The officers testified that a haze was emanating from the bathroom. Inside the bathroom, the officers found methamphetamine as well as the makings of a methamphetamine lab, including chemicals, tubing, glassware, and containers.

{4} Defendant filed a motion to suppress all evidence seized, arguing that police did not wait a reasonable amount of time before forcibly entering his motel room and that no exigent circumstances existed to justify the shortened waiting time. The trial court conducted a hearing on the motion. In that hearing, police witnesses testified that they had obtained the search warrant three days before it was executed. The warrant was based on information the officers received indicating that methamphetamine was being sold out of the room, which police then confirmed by conducting two controlled buys. In the affidavit accompanying the search warrant, Detective Sharkey stated that methamphetamine would be found in the room, in addition to materials for "packaging, distribution, weighing, diluting, cooking, injection, sale or other possession." The warrant did not contain any information relating to weapons or the possibility of violence by Defendant. Police did not request that a "no-knock" provision be included in the warrant.

{5} The trial court denied the motion to suppress, finding that the circumstances surrounding the search justified the police officers' forcible entry. The trial court emphasized that Detective Sharkey knocked and announced the officers' presence and lawful purpose for at least ten seconds before the battering began. The court found that there was a minimum of twelve additional seconds during which the door was being battered and noted that during the entire period before the door was forced open, there was no verbal or physical response from within the room. As a result, the court concluded that "[w]hile there [was] no absolute refusal to open the door ... there was constructive refusal." The court noted the small size of the motel room, with dimensions of approximately twelve feet by twelve feet, and the fact that the bed was within three or four feet of the doorway. The trial court also stated that because it took Detective Sharkey only a few steps to walk through the room, a shorter period of time was required for response before forced entry. Therefore, the trial court found that the officers acted reasonably and appropriately in executing the search warrant and entering Defendant's motel room.

{6} After the trial court denied the suppression motion, Defendant entered a conditional guilty plea to the trafficking charge. The possession charge was dropped. Defendant reserved the right to appeal the suppression issue.

{7} On appeal, the Court of Appeals first determined that the trial court erred in including the time during which the officers were battering the door in its calculation of the total wait time. State v. Johnson, 2004-NMCA-064, ¶ 7, 135 N.M. 615, 92 P.3d 61. Thus, the Court of Appeals determined that the officers waited ten seconds before entering, not the twenty-two to thirty seconds found by the trial court. Second, the Court of Appeals concluded that there was no particularized information indicating that the officers had an objectively reasonable belief of exigent circumstances. Id. ¶ 11. Finally, the Court found that ten seconds was an unreasonable period of time for the officers to infer that Defendant refused to open the door. Id. ¶ 15. Based on these findings, the Court held that the search was not constitutionally reasonable and the evidence should have been suppressed. Id.

{8} The State argues that the Court of Appeals erred in failing to afford proper deference to the trial court's factual finding that the time frame before forcible entry was twenty-two to thirty seconds. The State also argues that even if the officers only waited ten seconds before using force to enter, this was a reasonable period of time under the totality of the circumstances.

II. Discussion

{9} "The standard of review for suppression rulings is whether the law was correctly applied to the facts, viewing them in a manner most favorable to the prevailing party." State v. Lopez, 2005-NMSC-018, ¶ 9, 138 N.M. 9, 116 P.3d 80 (quoting State v. Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 10, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856). "The appellate court must defer to the district court with respect to findings of historical fact so long as they are supported by substantial evidence." Jason L., 2000-NMSC-018, ¶ 10, 129 N.M. 119, 2 P.3d 856 (citing State v. Attaway, 117 N.M. 141, 144, 870 P.2d 103, 106 (1994)). "[A]ll reasonable inferences in support of the [district] court's decision will be indulged in, and all inferences or evidence to the contrary will be disregarded." Id. (quoting State v. Werner, 117 N.M. 315, 317, 871 P.2d 971, 973 (1994)). Deferring to the trial court with respect to factual findings and indulging all reasonable inferences in support of the trial court's decision to deny the motion to suppress, we review the constitutional question of the reasonableness of a search and seizure de novo. See Attaway, 117 N.M. at 144-46, 870 P.2d at 106-08.

{10} The general rules governing United States Constitution Fourth Amendment search and seizure issues are fairly well established. "In New Mexico, law enforcement officers are constitutionally required to knock and announce their identity and purpose, and wait a reasonable time to determine if consent to enter will be given prior to forcefully entering a [dwelling] in order to execute a search warrant." State v. Vargas, 1996-NMCA-016, ¶ 5, 121 N.M. 316, 910 P.2d 950 (citing Attaway, 117 N.M. at 150-51, 870 P.2d at 112-13). The knock-and-announce rule serves multiple purposes. It helps to protect the constitutional right of citizens to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, while also providing law enforcement with clear standards of conduct in the execution of search warrants and the seizure of evidence. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 149, 870 P.2d at 111. The rule also serves the more specific purposes of "preventing needless destruction of private property, eliminating unnecessary intrusions upon privacy, and reducing the risk of violence both to police and occupants." Id. at 150, 870 P.2d at 112. Compliance with the rule may be excused if exigent circumstances exist. Id. at 149-50, 870 P.2d at 111-12 (citing State v. Baca, 87 N.M. 12, 13-14, 528 P.2d 656, 657-58 (N.M.Ct.App.1974)). The ultimate question regarding an alleged search and seizure violation is whether the search and seizure was reasonable. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 149, 870 P.2d at 111 (citing State v. Martinez, 94 N.M. 436, 440, 612 P.2d 228, 232 (1980)).

{11} We first consider whether the Court of Appeals erred in its determination that the officers waited only ten seconds after knocking and announcing and before forcing entry, as opposed to the twenty-two to thirty seconds calculated by the trial court. See Johnson, 2004-NMCA-064, ¶ 8, 135 N.M. 615, 92 P.3d 61. We agree with the Court that as soon as the officers began forcibly battering the door, one of the stated purposes of the knock-and-announce requirement, the prevention of needless destruction of property, was no longer served. See id. The State's argument that hitting the door with a battering ram was merely a "louder, more aggressive contact with the door," which was "part of the knock and announce process," is illogical. Defendant could not reasonably be expected to open the door while it was being battered. When the officers began hitting the door with the battering ram, they ceased "knocking" and began "entering." See United States v. McCloud, 127 F.3d 1284, 1289 n. 2 (10th Cir.1997) ("[O]ur review of precedent indicates...