State v. Saxton
| Decision Date | 24 April 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 01-509.,01-509. |
| Citation | 2003 MT 105,315 Mont. 315,68 P.3d 721 |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Shirley SAXTON, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Ann C. German, Attorney at Law, Libby, Montana, For Appellant.
Hon. Mike McGrath, Attorney General; Mark Fowler, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Montana, Bernard Cassidy, Lincoln County Attorney; Robert Slomski, Deputy County Attorney, Libby, Montana, For Respondent.
¶ 1 The State charged the Defendant, Shirley Saxton, in the District Court for the Nineteenth Judicial District in Lincoln County with criminal production of dangerous drugs, criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Saxton filed motions to suppress evidence recovered during a warrantless search of her home and statements made by her to a police officer. The District Court denied those motions. Saxton pled guilty to one count of criminal production of dangerous drugs. She appeals the District Court's orders denying her motions to suppress evidence. We affirm the judgment of the District Court.
¶ 2 The issues on appeal are:
¶ 3 1. Did the District Court err when it denied Saxton's motion to suppress evidence obtained through a warrantless search of her home?
¶ 4 2. Did the District Court err when it denied Saxton's motion to suppress evidence based on the State's failure to preserve or promptly provide audio recordings from her 911 call to the police and a police officer's "belt recording"?
¶ 5 3. Did the District Court err when it denied Saxton's motion to exclude evidence of her conversations with a police officer?
¶ 6 On March 14, 2000, Shirley Saxton was at her home in Rexford, Montana, with her boyfriend Ted Wilson, when Saxton's adult son, Tommy Arms, entered her home. Arms, who was intoxicated and belligerent, yelled at Saxton and at some point hit her in the stomach with a coffee cup, causing her to lose consciousness. Arms then fought with Wilson. While they fought, Saxton regained consciousness, fled her mobile home, and went next door to her daughter's (Teresa Cantu's) mobile home and called 911.
¶ 7 Saxton told the 911 dispatcher, Judy Romeo, that her son was "drunk and violent, and he was hurting people and throwing things" in her trailer. She told Romeo that she was at her daughter's house and was not going to return home, but that she feared that Arms would find her at Cantu's home and try to hurt her so she needed to leave. Romeo asked Saxton for the address, but Saxton could not recall the address. Saxton told Romeo that she had to go and hung up.
¶ 8 Romeo contacted Matt Neuman, a sheriff for Lincoln County who was off-duty at the time, and requested that he respond to the call. She described the circumstances as an "urgent domestic situation." Neuman agreed to respond and picked up James Handy, a Eureka city police officer, to assist in the response. Meanwhile, Romeo called Cantu's number to obtain better directions to Cantu's house, and spoke with Cantu, who gave additional directions that were forwarded to Neuman.
¶ 9 After calling 911, Saxton left Cantu's trailer and hid behind her trailer. Cheryl Gillard, Saxton's neighbor, found Saxton in her backyard and took Saxton back into her house to get Wilson. The three then went to the Frontier Bar, which was about 75 feet from Saxton's trailer. As Saxton went to the Frontier Bar, she heard a crashing noise at her trailer and heard Arms yell "I'm going to kill you." Saxton hid in the Frontier Bar's bathroom until police arrived at her trailer.
¶ 10 Neuman and Handy traveled with their emergency lights activated from Eureka to the Rexford trailer park. Neuman parked in Cantu's driveway and approached Cantu's home where he met a young male who directed Neuman to Saxton's nearby home. Neuman knocked on Saxton's door, and yelled "hello" several times. There was no answer. Neuman knocked on the door again, and a part of the window, which was recently broken, fell to the ground. Neuman then opened Saxton's door and entered the home. Neuman and Handy performed an armed "quick sweep through the house," going door-to-door through the trailer to see if anyone was inside. Inside one of the doors, Neuman immediately recognized a "marijuana grow," including a low-hanging fluorescent light fixture and several potted plants. Neuman and Handy continued through the remainder of the house and then exited Saxton's house.
¶ 11 Outside the house, the officers met Gillard, who had left the Frontier Bar to talk to the officers, and asked her to bring Saxton back to her trailer. Gillard left and returned with Saxton a few minutes later.
¶ 12 Neuman spoke with Saxton regarding the assault. Saxton described the assault and her injuries, after which Neuman asked Saxton if she would like to leave to get medical attention for her injuries. Saxton declined, stating that she could not afford an ambulance. Neuman asked Saxton if she would be willing to have a friend take her to the hospital, but Saxton also declined that offer.
¶ 13 At some point in their conversation, Neuman asked Saxton who owned the marijuana plants inside her trailer. Saxton initially told Neuman that the marijuana was Arms'. However, a short time later Saxton admitted that the marijuana was hers and stated that she was growing it for medicinal and research purposes. Neuman asked Saxton if she had a permit to grow the marijuana and she said she did not. After his discussion with Saxton, Neuman obtained a search warrant for Saxton's home, and the police seized evidence from the "marijuana grow."
¶ 14 About 10 days after the seizure of evidence, Saxton called Neuman to discuss the pending case against her, and Saxton made additional incriminating statements regarding her ownership of the seized plants.
¶ 15 On March 31, 2000, the State charged Saxton with criminal production of dangerous drugs, criminal possession of dangerous drugs, and criminal possession of drug paraphernalia. On May 30, 2000, Saxton moved to suppress evidence obtained from Neuman's warrantless search of her home, contending that Neuman should have obtained a search warrant prior to entering her home. The District Court held an evidentiary hearing to consider Saxton's motion to suppress on October 5, 2000, where Neuman disclosed for the first time that he had a "belt recording" of his response to Saxton's house. Neuman testified that he had previously listened to the tape, and discovered that the recording was mostly unintelligible, and had set the tape aside and had forgotten about it until he was summoned to appear at the suppression hearing. The parties also established, at the hearing, that the 911 dispatch center did not record Saxton's phone call to 911.
¶ 16 As a result of the hearing, Saxton filed another motion to suppress on the grounds that the State failed to preserve and provide exculpatory evidence. The District Court later denied both of these motions, and ordered that a copy of Neuman's "belt recording" be produced for additional audio enhancement to determine whether there was additional useful evidence for Saxton's defense. After obtaining the enhanced "belt recording," Saxton filed a motion to suppress her statements to Neuman. The District Court eventually denied all of Saxton's motions to suppress evidence.
¶ 17 Saxton entered into a plea agreement with the State and agreed to plead guilty to one count of criminal production of dangerous drugs. The agreement provided that Saxton could appeal the District Court's rulings on her motions to suppress evidence. Saxton pled guilty to the one count and the District Court sentenced her to a three-year suspended sentence.
¶ 18 We review a district court's denial of a motion to suppress evidence to determine whether the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous. State v. Bassett, 1999 MT 109, ¶ 17, 294 Mont. 327, ¶ 17, 982 P.2d 410, ¶ 17; State v. Kaufman, 2002 MT 294, ¶ 12, 313 Mont. 1, ¶ 12, 59 P.3d 1166, ¶ 12. Findings of fact are clearly erroneous where they are not supported by substantial evidence, where the court misapprehends the effect of the evidence, or where this Court's consideration of the record results in a firm conviction that a mistake has been made. State v. Jarman, 1998 MT 277, ¶ 8, 291 Mont. 391, ¶ 8, 967 P.2d 1099, ¶ 8. ¶ 19 Whether the factual circumstances determined by the District Court constitute "exigent circumstances" is a conclusion of law that we will review for correctness. Bassett, ¶ 17; State v. McBride, 1999 MT 127, ¶ 11, 294 Mont. 461, ¶ 11, 982 P.2d 453, ¶ 11.
¶ 20 We review a district court's orders regarding evidentiary matters and motions to exclude evidence for alleged discovery violations for an abuse of discretion. State v. Duffy, 2000 MT 186, ¶ 18, 300 Mont. 381, ¶ 18, 6 P.3d 453, ¶ 18.
¶ 21 Did the District Court err when it denied Saxton's motion to suppress evidence obtained through a warrantless search of her home?
¶ 22 In its order denying Saxton's motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of Neuman's warrantless search of her home, the District Court concluded that exigent circumstances existed to justify Neuman's entry. It found that Neuman was responding to a "frantic call from Saxton that her son `was drunk and throwing [things] around and hitting people,'" and that Neuman was dispatched to investigate the alleged assault and protect potential victims from further assault. The District Court concluded that it was reasonable, when Neuman had not located Arms or Saxton, and heard no answer from inside Saxton's trailer after knocks and calls from outside Saxton's door, to enter Saxton's trailer to protect the lives of possible victims inside. The District Court also relied upon § 46-6-311(2), MCA, which provides that...
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