State v. Patricelli
Citation | 324 NW 2d 351 |
Decision Date | 14 September 1982 |
Docket Number | No. 82-684.,82-684. |
Parties | STATE of Minnesota, Appellant, v. Michael William PATRICELLI, Respondent. |
Court | Supreme Court of Minnesota (US) |
Warren Spannaus, Atty. Gen., Norman B. Coleman, Jr. and Kenneth W. Saffold, Sp. Asst. Attys. Gen., St. Paul, James R. Clifford, County Atty., Center City, for appellant.
C. Paul Jones, Public Defender and Mollie G. Raskind, Deputy State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for respondent.
Considered and decided by the court en banc without oral argument.
This is a pretrial appeal by the state pursuant to Minn.R.Crim.P. 29.03 from an order of the district court suppressing evidence in the prosecution of defendant on a charge of aggravated robbery. The district court suppressed the evidence, a statement, on the ground that it was the fruit of an illegal arrest of defendant at the house of a friend. Specifically, the court ruled (a) that although police had a warrant, the warrant was defective (b) that absent a valid warrant the arrest was unlawful under Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) and (c) that the confession was the suppressible fruit of the arrest. We hold that the arrest was lawful even without a warrant and therefore we reverse and remand for trial.
On January 27, 1982, an investigator for the Chisago County Sheriff's Office presented a completed standard complaint form to a magistrate. The standard form, in this case Form C of the Mandatory Forms, has boxes at the top for the affiant to check whether he is seeking a summons, warrant, or order of detention, and also boxes for indicating whether the offense charged is a felony or a gross misdemeanor. The investigator had checked the box for warrant and the box for felony. In the affidavit part of the form, he swore to facts establishing probable cause to believe that defendant was guilty of the aggravated robbery of a combination gas station and store on November 14, 1981. The investigator signed the form in the presence of the magistrate.
The magistrate found probable cause and signed the bottom of Form J of the Mandatory Forms. That form is a multiple purpose form which can be used as a summons, warrant, or order of detention, depending on which box is checked. The magistrate neglected to check any of the boxes but did sign the form.
That afternoon the investigator and two other officers went to the residence of defendant's girlfriend in Mahtomedi believing that defendant was there. (Defendant's residence was in St. Paul.) The investigator and one of the officers, who was in his uniform, knocked on the door of the vestibule or windowless porch, then entered the vestibule as an older man opened the inner door to the private quarters. The investigator asked for defendant, who was seated at a table in open view. The older man turned and asked if defendant was there, and defendant then came to the door to talk with the investigator. At that point defendant was told he was under arrest.
Later that day the investigator obtained a search warrant to search defendant's residence in St. Paul and that warrant was executed.
Subsequently, early on January 28, defendant made a statement. It is that statement which the district court suppressed.
The district court concluded that the magistrate's failure to check one of the boxes meant that he had, for whatever reason, decided not to issue a summons, warrant, or detention order and that therefore there was no warrant. He ruled that without a valid warrant the arrest was invalid because the arrest occurred in a dwelling. Finally, he concluded that the illegality of the arrest tainted the statement defendant gave.
In State v. Miller, 316 N.W.2d 23 (Minn. 1982), we dealt with the issue of what is an entry under the United States Supreme Court's decision in Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), which held that, absent exigent circumstances or consent, police without an arrest warrant may not cross the threshold and enter a suspect's residence to arrest him. In Miller we discussed, without deciding, the issue whether nonexigent warrantless arrests initiated at the threshold may be valid, stating:
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