State v. Matthews

• Decision Date: 16 July 2003
• Docket Number: No. 20020261.,20020261.
• Citation: 665 N.W.2d 28,2003 ND 108
• Parties: STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Anthony Charles MATTHEWS, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

665 N.W.2d 28

2003 ND 108

STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Appellee, v. Anthony Charles MATTHEWS, Defendant and Appellant.

No. 20020261.

Supreme Court of North Dakota.

July 16, 2003.

Rehearing Denied August 20, 2003.

Mark R. Boening, Assistant State's Attorney, Fargo, N.D., for plaintiff and appellee.

Steven D. Mottinger of Johnson, Ramstad & Mottinger, PLLP, Fargo, N.D., for defendant and appellant.

SANDSTROM, Justice.

[¶ 1] Anthony Charles Matthews appealed from a criminal judgment entered following conditional pleas of guilty for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of drug paraphernalia. We affirm the judgment of the trial court, concluding that under the circumstances, law enforcement officers were able to enter Matthews' residence and conduct a warrantless search for information under the emergency doctrine.

I

[¶ 2] In the early morning hours of October 24, 2001, a dispatcher at the Fargo Police Department received a 911 emergency call from a woman reporting that two men were being held at gunpoint at "some farm house on [sic] Horace." The two men reported as being held in Horace by four or five individuals with guns were B. Murray and his boss, later identified as Anthony Matthews. The caller identified herself as Murray's mother-in-law. The caller said Murray was crying and called her house because the gunmen were allowing him an opportunity to make one last phone call to say goodbye. The caller told the dispatcher that Murray's boss was "in the garage ... with guns to his head." The caller informed the dispatcher that Murray worked for a company called "Leak Seekers" and Murray and his boss "went to collect or something for a job."

[¶ 3] The dispatcher called the telephone company to place a trace on the caller's telephone in order to determine where Murray's call had originated. While waiting for the phone company to trace the call, the dispatcher learned Leak Seekers was owned by Anthony Matthews. A description of the two cars registered to Matthews was relayed to the Cass County Sheriff's Department so deputies could begin looking for the cars in the Horace area. Fargo police officers were also dispatched to the location of Matthews' business, which was at his home. When the police officers arrived at Matthews' residence, they found neither of Matthews' registered cars, but Murray's girlfriend's car was parked outside. Lights were on in the house, but no one answered the door when the officers knocked. Officers could hear Matthews' telephone ringing inside when a dispatcher called to try to make contact, but no one answered the phone. The officers looked in Matthews' garage and did not report anything suspicious to Sergeant Pallas, who was the shift commander that morning and was investigating the case at the police department. After the officers relayed to Sergeant Pallas what they observed at Matthews' residence, they left the house.

[¶ 4] The phone company reported to the dispatcher that it was unable to trace the phone call from Murray. Sergeant Pallas decided the police had to enter the home to gain information or to check for possible victims. Three officers met Sergeant Pallas at Matthews' house and entered the home without a search warrant, approximately 30 to 45 minutes after the dispatcher received the 911 call. Once inside the house, Sergeant Pallas started looking for business records that might show a client located in the Horace area. Sergeant Pallas directed the other officers to search the house to see whether either the victims or the gunmen were inside and to look for any business records that might identify the Horace location. In an upstairs bedroom located at the front of the house, an officer discovered marijuana in a clear plastic bag on a glass mirror on the floor. Lying next to it on the floor were a digital scale and plastic packaging for two or three marijuana bricks, which appeared to the officers to have recently contained marijuana. Another officer found a black plastic garbage bag containing 12 to 15 bundles of marijuana in the bedroom closet. Following these discoveries, the police secured a search warrant for the house. During the search, officers seized marijuana and other evidence of drug activity.

[¶ 5] Claiming an unlawful search, Matthews moved to suppress any evidence found during the warrantless search of his home and any evidence obtained in the execution of the search warrant. The trial court denied Matthews' motion to suppress. Matthews entered conditional pleas of guilty to the charges, reserving his right to challenge the trial court's denial of the suppression motion under N.D.R.Crim.P. 11(a)(2). After conditionally pleading guilty, Matthews appealed the criminal judgment entered following the trial court's memorandum opinion and order denying the motion to suppress.

[¶ 6] The district court had jurisdiction under N.D. Const. art. VI, § 8, and N.D.C.C. § 27-05-06. This Court has jurisdiction under N.D. Const. art. VI, § 6, and N.D.C.C. §§ 28-27-01 and 28-27-02.

II

[¶ 7] Matthews argues the evidence seized in his house should have been suppressed because the State did not meet its burden to prove the warrantless search was justified by an exception to the warrant requirement. Matthews contends the information provided by the 911 call and the details the officers discovered while investigating at Matthews' residence indicated that no one was at the residence, and the officers did not have probable cause.

[¶ 8] When reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we defer to the district court's findings of fact and resolve conflicts in testimony in favor of affirmance. City of Grand Forks v. Zejdlik, 551 N.W.2d 772, 774 (N.D.1996). We affirm the district court's decision unless, after resolving conflicting evidence in favor of affirmance, we conclude there is insufficient competent evidence to support the decision, or unless the decision goes against the manifest weight of the evidence. City of Fargo v. Thompson, 520 N.W.2d 578, 581 (N.D.1994). "That standard of review recognizes the importance of the trial court's opportunity to observe the witnesses and assess their credibility, and we `accord great deference to its decision in suppression matters.'" State v. Bjornson, 531 N.W.2d 315, 317 (N.D.1995) (quoting State v. Brown, 509 N.W.2d 69, 71 (N.D.1993)). "Questions of law are fully reviewable." State v. Zimmerman, 529 N.W.2d 171, 173 (N.D.1995).

[¶ 9] The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment, and Article I, section 8, of the North Dakota Constitution protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. City of Jamestown v. Dardis, 2000 ND 186, ¶ 8, 618 N.W.2d 495. The Fourth Amendment provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

U.S. Const. amend. IV. The United States Supreme Court has noted the plain language of the first clause of the Fourth Amendment condemns unreasonable searches or seizures conducted without a warrant. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 585, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980).

[¶ 10] "[I]f an individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched or the materials seized, then a search and seizure within the protection of the Fourth Amendment has been conducted." Lubenow v. N.D. State Highway Comm'r, 438 N.W.2d 528, 531 (N.D.1989); see Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 9, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)

. The United States Supreme Court has indicated a "basic principle of Fourth Amendment law" is that warrantless searches and seizures inside a home are presumptively unreasonable. Payton, 445 U.S. at 586,

100 S.Ct. 1371. Nevertheless, the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of searches inside a home without a warrant is not absolute. Searches and seizures without a warrant are not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment if the government can show the search or seizure falls under one of the well-delineated exceptions to the search warrant requirement. State v. DeCoteau, 1999 ND 77, ¶ 7, 592 N.W.2d 579.

[¶ 11] One such exception is that law enforcement officers may enter a home and conduct a warrantless search if both probable cause and exigent circumstances exist. Kirk v. Louisiana, 536 U.S. 635, 122 S.Ct. 2458, 153 L.Ed.2d 599 (2002); Payton, 445 U.S. at 589-90, 100 S.Ct. 1371; United States v. Davis, 785 F.2d 610, 615 (8th Cir.1986).

[¶ 12] This Court has said, "`Probable cause exists when the facts and circumstances within a police officer's knowledge and of which he has reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to warrant a man of reasonable caution in believing that an offense has been or is being committed.'" State v. Kolb, 239 N.W.2d 815, 817 (N.D.1976) (quoting Witte v. Hjelle, 234 N.W.2d 16, 17-18 Syllabus 3 (N.D.1975)). The Eleventh Circuit in United States v. Holloway, 290 F.3d 1331, 1337-38 (11th Cir.2002), however, articulated how the probable-cause element differs in cases in which law enforcement officers enter a residence due to an emergency:

In emergencies, however, law enforcement officers are not motivated by an expectation of seizing evidence of a crime. Rather, the officers are compelled to search by a desire to locate victims and the need to ensure their own safety and that of the public. See generally Note, The Emergency Doctrine, Civil Search and Seizure, and the Fourth Amendment, 43 Fordham L.Rev. 571, 582 (1975) ("Generally it is not difficult to determine when the emergency doctrine is being applied. The police usually are acting to help a person in distress, not to find evidence of criminal acts."). Thus, in an emergency, the probable

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