State v. Jones

• Decision Date: 13 December 1995
• Citation: 667 A.2d 1043,143 N.J. 4
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Leo R. JONES, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Page 4

143 N.J. 4

667 A.2d 1043

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Leo R. JONES, Defendant-Respondent.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued Oct. 10, 1995.

Decided Dec. 13, 1995.

John J. Scaliti, Acting Assistant Prosecutor, for appellant (Charles R. Buckley, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor, attorney).

Steven M. Gilson, Designated Counsel, for respondent (Susan Reisner, Public Defender, attorney).

Nancy Peremes Barton, Deputy Attorney General, for amicus curiae, Attorney General of New Jersey (Deborah T. Poritz, Attorney General, attorney).

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

In this appeal, the issue is whether it was reasonable, under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, for a police officer, following the fleeing subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, to enter a private residence using force if the officer did not know the offense underlying the warrant.

I

On the evening of October 15, 1989, Peter Katsihtis parked his Mazda MX6 in the parking lot of the Stony Hill Inn, which was located across the street from his residence. Katsihtis had been given permission to park there. The next morning, Katsihtis found that the car had been broken into and that his wallet, driver's license, registration, social security card, cassette tapes, and floor mats had been stolen. He reported the theft to the Hackensack Police.

Two days later, on October 18, 1989, Sergeants Michael Mordaga and Robert Wright of the Hackensack Police Department's Narcotics Street Crime Unit were conducting a surveillance near an apartment complex located at 370 Park Street. The police surveillance was unrelated to defendant. During the surveillance, the officers observed a vehicle containing defendant and a companion, Lonzie Collier, pull into the parking lot. Mordaga recognized Collier from previous encounters and also remembered having seen an outstanding warrant for his arrest earlier that evening. At that time, Mordaga did not know the offenses underlying the issuance of the warrant. Subsequently, he learned that the warrant was issued for Collier's failure to pay fines assessed for two prior convictions of possession of narcotics paraphernalia.

On seeing Collier, the police officers exited their vehicle and approached Collier and defendant. The defendant and Collier fled. The record is unclear about whether the officers informed Collier that they had a warrant for his arrest before the men ran away. At the pretrial suppression hearing, it appeared that Collier and defendant fled before the officers had an opportunity to inform Collier that they had a warrant for his arrest. Alternatively, Collier and defendant may have been too far away to have heard the officers. At trial, however, Mordaga testified on cross-examination that he "attempted to get [Collier's] attention by calling him. I said, 'Toot' which is his nickname, 'Toot', we have a warrant for your arrest. He turned. At the same time he saw us approaching and he ran." Indeed, in defendant's brief to the Appellate Division, he confirmed that Mordaga made that statement. However, in his brief to this Court, defendant asserted that the two men had run before Mordaga told them he had a warrant for Collier's arrest.

Both Collier and defendant knew that Mordaga and Wright were police officers. It is also undisputed that both Collier and defendant fled either on seeing the officers or on being informed that the police had a warrant for Collier's arrest. Mordaga and Wright gave chase. Defendant and Collier entered the apartment building with the two police officers not far behind. Collier and defendant ran up the stairs and quickly entered apartment 312. Mordaga and Wright followed them.

The facts establish that the police tried the door, found it locked, and kicked it down. The record is unclear as to whether the officers knocked and announced their presence at the apartment before breaking down the door. At the suppression hearing, the officers were not questioned on whether they had knocked and announced their presence. However, at trial Mordaga testified on cross-examination that he knocked and asked for entrance before kicking in the door.

Mordaga testified that immediately inside the door was a kitchen table, upon which were strewn various narcotics paraphernalia and paper documents, all of which the officers seized. The papers included Peter Katsihtis's driver's license, social security card, bank card, and vehicle registration. The officers also observed and seized a crowbar, which was wrapped in newspaper. The police arrested Collier and defendant, read them their Miranda rights, and then took them to the police station.

On his arrival at police headquarters, defendant expressed a willingness to cooperate with the police. Defendant implicated himself and Collier in several crimes in which defendant had been the driver of the get-away car. Mordaga re-informed defendant of his Miranda rights, but he did not interrogate defendant because the crimes were not narcotics related. The next morning Detective Krakowski of General Investigations was summoned to follow-up with defendant. After informing defendant of his Miranda rights, which defendant waived in a signed release, Krakowski took a statement from defendant relating to the robbery of a car at the Stony Hill Inn on October 15. Defendant told the police officer that he had been driving with Collier when Collier instructed him to pull into the parking lot at the Stony Hill Inn. Collier got out of defendant's car and went over to a Mazda MX6 parked in the lot. After Collier tried unsuccessfully to pry open the trunk, he broke the passenger's side window instead. Defendant told police that Collier said there was nothing of value in the vehicle.

II

Defendant was indicted on charges of first degree robbery, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1 (count one); burglary, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:18-2 (count two); possession of heroin, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10a(1) (count three); and receiving stolen property, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7 (count six). The other counts in the indictment related to Lonzie Collier and another co-defendant. Prior to trial, defendant moved to suppress the physical evidence seized from the apartment and the oral statement that he later gave to the police. He also moved to have the counts severed for trial.

The suppression hearing lasted five days. Defendant's primary argument was that the warrant on which co-defendant Collier was arrested did not exist and that it was fabricated after the entry of the apartment and the arrest. In that connection, defense counsel brought out several inconsistencies and mistakes in police and municipal court procedures with respect to the issuance of the warrant. While impressed with counsel's attempt to disprove the validity of the arrest warrant, the trial court stated, "I also recognize and take into consideration all the reasons why these things might have been suspect, but I can't disbelieve the clerk's testimony that she signed it [the warrant] on the 18th absent any proof to the contrary." Ultimately, the trial court concluded that "the entry into the premises was lawful and they could seize, pursuant to that warrant, any contraband that they observed on the kitchen table and they did that." Accordingly, the trial court denied the motion to suppress and admitted the items seized from the apartment and the statements made by defendant after he was taken into custody. The trial court, however, granted defendant's motion to sever various counts of the indictment.

Defendant stood trial only on count two, the Katsihtis burglary charge. The defendant did not testify on his own behalf, nor did he call any witnesses. The jury found him guilty. Defendant appealed to the Appellate Division, and the panel reversed and remanded. 277 N.J.Super. 113, 122, 649 A.2d 89 (1994). The panel concluded that the physical evidence obtained at the apartment and the defendant's subsequent inculpatory statements should have been suppressed. Ibid.

The Appellate Division observed that the case was governed by State v. Bolte, 115 N.J. 579, 560 A.2d 644 cert. denied, 493 U.S. 936, 110 S.Ct. 330, 107 L.Ed.2d 320 (1989). Jones, supra, 277 N.J.Super. 119-20, 649 A.2d 89. In Bolte, this Court held that it was unreasonable for a police officer, in "hot pursuit" of a person suspected of numerous motor vehicle and disorderly persons offenses, to make a warrantless entry into a suspect's home to effect an arrest. Bolte, supra, 115 N.J. at 580-81, 560 A.2d 644. Although the officer in Bolte was in "hot pursuit," this Court found lacking the exigent circumstances needed to validate the warrantless entry of the individual's home. Id. at 597-98, 560 A.2d 644.

Although acknowledging that the officers were attempting to execute the outstanding arrest warrant on Collier when Collier and defendant fled into the apartment, the Appellate Division, relying on Bolte, supra, stated that "[i]f arrest for numerous motor vehicle and disorderly persons violations committed in the officer's presence does not justify invading the sanctity of a private home, it follows that execution of an arrest warrant issued for similar minor offenses would invalidate such an invasion." Jones, supra, 277 N.J.Super. at 121, 649 A.2d 89. The panel also noted that the police officers did not know the basis for the outstanding warrant at the time they tried to execute it:

Not knowing the nature of the warrant, in our view, places the pursuing officer in the same situation as in Bolte. The presumption must be that the warrant is for a minor offense in the absence of evidence to the contrary. To reach any other conclusion would be to allow the police to circumvent the constitutional sensitivity toward the sanctity of private dwellings by simply choosing not to ascertain the nature of an outstanding warrant. Requiring that...