State v. Vargas
| Decision Date | 20 December 1995 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 16009,16035,s. 16009 |
| Citation | 121 N.M. 316,1996 NMCA 16,910 P.2d 950 |
| Parties | STATE of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Peter VARGAS and Tommy Vargas, Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
1. In these consolidated cases we review Defendants' contentions that the trial court erred in upholding the exigent circumstances exception to the knock-and-announce rule, and in denying their motions to suppress controlled substances seized by law enforcement officers incident to their execution of arrest warrants upon Defendants at their residence. Because our review of the record indicates the existence of evidence from which the trial court could properly determine that exigent circumstances justified the officers' decision to dispense with the knock-and-announce requirement prior to entering Defendants' home, we affirm.
2. Defendants are brothers and, on March 18, 1994, resided at their mother's home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Prior to the execution of the arrest warrants, Martin Young, a federal Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agent, was investigating both Defendants for suspected firearms violations. During this same period, Richard Gonzales, a Las Cruces City Police Officer, was independently investigating Defendant Tommy Vargas for suspected drug trafficking. Agent Young learned that both Defendants were wanted on outstanding state arrest warrants. Agent Young and the Las Cruces City Police decided to execute the arrest warrants. On the morning of March 18, 1994, Agent Young conducted a briefing at about 7:00, at which time he informed the officers executing the warrants that they would not need to knock and announce prior to entering the home. He indicated that he considered both Defendants armed and dangerous, because he believed they were convicted felons with numerous arrests, and that they possessed firearms. Young subsequently testified that he was not aware of New Mexico's requirement that officers knock, announce their presence, and wait for a response or be denied entry to execute an arrest warrant.
3. Prior to 10:00 o'clock on the day the warrants were to be served, a confidential informant was sent to Defendants' home to verify that both Defendants were in fact in the residence. The informant told Agent Young that both Defendants were in the house asleep, after having been up very late the night before. At 10:00 a.m., two Las Cruces City Police Officers used a battering ram to break open a door and entered the house, simultaneously yelling, At this point, officers ran down the hallway to Defendants' rooms and entered them as Defendants physically tried to hold the doors shut. Defendants were both arrested, and contraband was discovered in plain view during the arrest.
4. Defendants each filed a motion to suppress the contraband. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court determined that the officers had not complied with the knock-and-announce rule because they forcibly entered the house simultaneously with their announcement. The trial court held, however, that the failure to comply with the rule was excused because there was sufficient evidence that the officers had a good-faith belief that exigent circumstances existed justifying their immediate entry.
5. In New Mexico, law enforcement officers are constitutionally required to knock and announce their identity and purpose, and wait a reasonable time to determine if consent to enter will be given prior to forcefully entering a residence in order to execute a search warrant. State v. Attaway, 117 N.M. 141, 150-51, 870 P.2d 103, 112-13 (1994). This requirement prevents the needless destruction of property, eliminates unnecessary intrusions on privacy, and reduces the risk of violence to both occupants and police. Id. at 150, 870 P.2d at 112. A failure to comply with this requirement may result in a determination that the search was constitutionally unreasonable, Wilson v. Arkansas, --- U.S. ----, ----, 115 S.Ct. 1914, 1919, 131 L.Ed.2d 976 (1995), and application of the exclusionary rule to any evidence seized as a result of such search. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 143, 870 P.2d at 105. Exceptions to the knock-and-announce rule exist, however, if sufficient exigent circumstances are present, such as a demonstrable risk that evidence will be destroyed while the officers wait to be denied entry, or specific information exists indicating that the danger to the officers executing the warrant will be increased, rather than decreased, if the officers comply with the rule.1 Id. at 150, 870 P.2d at 112; see also State v. Baca, 87 N.M. 12, 13-14, 528 P.2d 656, 657-58 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 87 N.M. 5, 528 P.2d 649 (1974). The exception relied upon by the State in this case is the "danger-to-officers" exception.2
6. When the State relies upon the danger-to-officers exception to justify an entry, the State must prove that reasonable, well-trained officers could believe, under the circumstances, that full or partial compliance with the rule would create or increase the risk of violence toward the officers. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 151, 870 P.2d at 113 (); Baca, 87 N.M. at 14, 528 P.2d at 658 (); see also United States v. Maden, 64 F.3d 1505, 1508-09 (10th Cir.1995) (). The burden is on the state to prove justification for its noncompliance with the knock-and-announce rule. State v. Ford, 310 Or. 623, 801 P.2d 754, 763 (1990). This burden can be met by showing, for example, that the suspect has a large cache of illegal or unusually dangerous weapons, or that the suspect possesses weapons and there are other circumstances tending to show that the suspect has engaged in violent or unpredictable behavior, and facts establish that a well-trained and prudent officer would reasonably believe compliance with the knock-and-announce rule would increase the danger to the officers. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 153, 870 P.2d at 115.
7. In reviewing a defendant's claim that the trial court erred in finding that the facts in a particular case justified law enforcement officers in obtaining entry into a residence under the exigent circumstances exception to the knock-and-announce rule, an appellate court examines the lower court's ruling using a de novo standard of review and scrutinizes the lower court's determination as a mixed question of law and fact. Attaway, 117 N.M. at 144-46, 870 P.2d at 106-08; see also Maden, 64 F.3d at 1508.
8. The trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed on appeal if supported by substantial evidence, unless it appears that the determination was incorrectly premised. State v. Shaw, 115 N.M. 174, 176, 848 P.2d 1101, 1103 (Ct.App.1993); State v. Calloway, 111 N.M. 47, 49, 801 P.2d 117, 119 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 111 N.M. 77, 801 P.2d 659 (1990). When reviewing a claim concerning the sufficiency of the evidence, this Court will review the evidence in the light most favorable to support the decision reached below and resolve all conflicts and indulge all inferences in favor of such determination. Id., 111 N.M. at 49, 801 P.2d at 119.
9. The question in this case is whether the information known to or believed by the officers prior to their entry was sufficient to meet the exigent circumstances exception recognized in Attaway. At the hearing on Defendants' motions to suppress, the State presented testimony indicating that the officers who were designated to serve the arrest warrants were aware that both Defendants were suspected of being involved in trafficking drugs; that Peter habitually carried a .45 caliber handgun on his person; that Tommy was in possession of a .25 caliber pistol and a .380 caliber pistol; that the officers believed both Defendants were convicted felons; and that both had numerous prior arrests. Tommy had verbally threatened one of the officers during a prior arrest. There was evidence that both Defendants were gang members and there had previously been several drive-by shootings directed at their residence. The State also presented evidence that at numerous times over the past ten years, police had been dispatched to Defendants' residence to deal with various incidents, and each time the police responded with more than the usual number of officers due to the residents' reputations as "violent individuals." Additionally, there was testimony that police units had been dispatched to Defendants' residence on two prior instances to control a domestic fight in which a bat and bottles were being wielded, and the other occasion there had been a fight at a party, and on both occasions officers noticed a tendency on the part of Defendants and the other residents to challenge the police.
10. Defendants argue that the exigent circumstances exception was inapplicable here because Agent Young indicated that he was unaware of New Mexico's requirement that officers must generally knock, announce, and wait before entering a residence. Agent Young's subjective knowledge, or lack thereof, is not determinative of the issue of whether sufficient exigent circumstances existed here to justify the officers' actions.3 See Calloway, 111 N.M. at 50, 801 P.2d at...
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...the warrant will be increased, rather than decreased, if the officers comply with the rule.” State v. Vargas, 1996–NMCA–016, ¶ 5, 121 N.M. 316, 910 P.2d 950. {11} To determine whether an exception applies, a court must look to the totality of the circumstances “at the time of entry from the......
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