State v. Perkins
| Decision Date | 02 July 1998 |
| Docket Number | No. CX-97-905,CX-97-905 |
| Citation | 582 N.W.2d 876 |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
| Parties | STATE of Minnesota, pet. Appellant, v. Donald PERKINS, Respondent. |
Syllabus by the Court
Miscommunication between the trial court and the state resulted in the state failing to address the issue of police entry at the omnibus hearing; accordingly, the case is remanded to the trial court for a reopening of the omnibus hearing.
Charles E. McLean, Winona County Atty., Steven L. Schleicher, Asst. Winona County Atty., Winona, for appellant.
John M. Stuart, State Public Defender, Leslie J. Rosenberg, Special Asst. State Public Defender, Minneapolis, for respondent.
Heard, considered, and decided by the court en banc.
As a consequence of an obvious miscommunication regarding the trial court's concerns about police entry into a motel room, the state's proof at the omnibus hearing failed to address several important issues essential to a determination of the constitutionality of a search. We therefore reverse and remand for a reopening of the omnibus hearing.
At approximately 2:00 a.m. on January 12, 1997, three Winona police officers, travelling in two vehicles, responded to a call for assistance to remove occupants from a room at the Riverport Inn Motel due to excessive noise. Upon the arrival of the first two officers at the motel, the front desk manager advised them that he had previously telephoned Room 300 and informed the occupants that the front desk had received a complaint that they were making too much noise. He further informed the officers that after receiving a second complaint, he went to Room 300 and told the occupants that if they did not quit making noise they would be removed. A third complaint precipitated the manager's call to the police for assistance in removing the occupants.
The two officers and a third officer who joined them accompanied the manager to Room 300 to provide back-up support while the manager asked the occupants to leave. The manager knocked on the door and Donald Perkins, dressed only in a long T-shirt, answered the door. When an officer asked for his name and date of birth, Perkins gave the name Joe Thomas, which two of the officers recognized to be false. While standing outside of Room 300, one of the officers noticed the strong smell of marijuana emanating from the room. Perkins argued with the manager when the manager told Perkins that all of the occupants would have to leave. The situation escalated when an officer asked if there were any females in the room and if they were decent. A voice from inside the room responded that there were females present who were not dressed 1--to which the officer told the females to get dressed. The officers then waited less than a minute before entering the room. Once inside, an officer informed everyone present that they were under arrest for suspicion of possessing marijuana. The officers then searched the occupants, including five adult and juvenile males and two juvenile females, ages 12 and 16. The 12-year-old female had slurred speech and was obviously intoxicated. A red bra was lying in plain view on the floor between the hot tub and the bed. A search of the motel room and bathroom disclosed marijuana in the bathroom, beer, wine and other alcoholic beverage containers strewn across the floor of the room, 7 rocks of crack cocaine underneath a comforter lying on the floor, and 2 rocks of crack cocaine tucked inside the sweatband of a baseball cap lying in the room. Additional squads were called for transport and all of the occupants were taken into police custody. Perkins was charged with fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance based upon the cocaine found inside of the baseball cap. Another person in the room, Antwan Booker, was charged with criminal sexual conduct regarding the 12-year-old female present in the room.
At the joint omnibus hearing, Perkins and Booker moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the search because it was attendant to an unlawful arrest. They claimed since there was no probable cause to support the drug possession charge against Perkins the arrest was unlawful and, therefore, so too was the search. The subject of police entry into the motel room was never specifically addressed by the defense attorneys or the prosecutor during the hearing, but at the close of the joint omnibus hearing, the trial court asked for clarification regarding the questions it was to address in its forthcoming order. To that end, the trial court asked Perkins' attorney if "your argument extend[s] to the circumstances under which the hat * * * was seized * * * or not." Perkins' attorney replied that it did and that Booker's attorney would address the issues pertaining to the arrest of the defendants. Then the trial court said, Perkins attorney replied that was correct. Booker's attorney argued that the search and arrest were pretextual because the officers were on the scene with the motel manager in a deterrent role and then placed everyone under arrest based on the smell of marijuana and suspicion of its use. Booker's attorney did not specifically address entry into the motel room--he simply argued that it was a pretextual arrest and that its fruits must be suppressed because there were no attenuating circumstances.
At the close of the omnibus hearing the prosecutor waived closing argument indicating his preference to submit a written brief that would "include solely the challenges that were raised by defense counsel * * * arrest and probable cause independent of arrest." The trial court responded, "before you get too far ahead of my thought process here, that's exactly what I'm focusing on, that issue of legality of arrest * * *." The prosecutor then outlined probable cause to arrest based on a totality of the circumstances, most of which arose after the police officers entered the motel room, but did not address important issues relating to police entry into the motel room.
The trial court issued its order suppressing the cocaine evidence and dismissing the complaint against Perkins finding that probable cause to arrest the defendants did not arise until after the police unlawfully entered the motel room. The trial court concluded that absent probable cause, the arrests were illegal and the fruits of the arrests including the cocaine must be suppressed citing Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (198...
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State v. Larsen, C5-01-980.
...507. We have similarly acknowledged a constitutionally protected expectation of privacy in one's home and curtilage, State v. Perkins, 582 N.W.2d 876, 878 (Minn.1998), Garza v. State, 632 N.W.2d 633, 639 (Minn.2001), in one's automobile, State v. Goodrich, 256 N.W.2d 506, 510 (Minn.1977), a......
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State v. Silvestrini, No. A07-1776 (Minn. App. 2/3/2009)
...103 S. Ct. 2317, 2328 (1983) (stating that the probable cause than is any demand that specific `tests' be satisfied"); State v. Perkins, 582 N.W.2d 876, 878 (Minn. 1998) (holding that courts "tak[e] into account the totality of the circumstances to determine whether police have probable cau......
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State v. Huber, No. A06-1408 (Minn. App. 1/9/2007)
...if the officer . . . conducting the search based his or her action on the wrong ground or had an improper motive.'" State v. Perkins, 582 N.W.2d 876, 878 (Minn. 1998) (quoting State v. Olson, 482 N.W.2d 212, 214 (Minn. The district court ruled that the warrantless search behind the speaker ......
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State v. Tanner, No. A08-1705 (Minn. App. 10/13/2009)
...of an arrest is determined by an objective standard that takes into account the totality of the circumstances. State v. Perkins, 582 N.W.2d 876, 878 (Minn. 1998). must decide each case on its own facts, guided not by any magic formula but by the standard of reasonableness. In applying this ......