In re B.A.M.

2008 MT 311, 192 P.3d 1161, 346 Mont. 49, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 467
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 9, 2008
DocketNo. DA 07-0540
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 2008 MT 311 (In re B.A.M.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re B.A.M., 2008 MT 311, 192 P.3d 1161, 346 Mont. 49, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 467 (Mo. 2008).

Opinion

JUSTICE MORRIS

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 B.A.M. appeals from an order of the Tenth Judicial District Youth Court (Youth Court), Fergus Comity, denying his motion to suppress. We affirm.

[50]*50¶2 B.A.M. presents the following issue for review:

¶3 Whether the Youth Court properly determined that exigent circumstances existed sufficient to justify a warrantless entry into the subject home.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

¶4 Fergus County sheriffs deputies received a tip on November 5, 2006, regarding an underage drinking party at the Landrau ranch about 25 miles outside of Lewistown, Montana. The deputies arrived at about 1:00 a.m. and observed the ongoing party through the open windows of the house. The deputies saw several seemingly underage people inside the house and a large quantity of liquor bottles and beer cans.

¶5 The party-goers apparently noticed the deputies and their car outside the house. They began rushing around the house, attempting to hide the beverage containers. People also began running out of the house into the darkness. The deputies, still outside the house, demanded to speak to a homeowner. They received no response. The deputies then called dispatch to report their observations and to discuss whether to pursue a telephonic warrant to search the house. The deputies ultimately entered the house without having obtained the warrant. The deputies apprehended between 12 and 15 underage drinkers, including B.A.M.

¶6 The deputies gathered the underage drinkers outside the house and began issuing minor in possession (MIP) tickets. B.A.M. refused to stand with the other offenders while they received their tickets. B.A.M. instead ran back into the house and said that “if he was going to get a ticket, he was going to be drunk.” The deputies then observed B.A.M. “grabbing every bottle he could find ... and chugging.” B.A.M. further resisted arrest by reportedly fighting, and injuring, one of the deputies on the scene.

¶7 The State initially charged B.A.M. with assault, obstructing a peace officer, resisting arrest, and disorderly conduct. The State later added the MIP charge. B.A.M. moved to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the Fergus County deputies had conducted an illegal warrantless search of the Landrau house. B.A.M. argued in relevant part that exigent circumstances did not exist to justify the warrantless search. B.A.M. asserted that absent a valid warrant the State legally could not sustain any of the charges against him.

¶8 The Youth Court denied the motion. The Youth Court determined that exigent circumstances existed to justify the search based on [51]*51several facts. The deputies observed the underage drinkers before entering the house. The underage drinkers fled from the house as the deputies approached. The location was remote and the weather was cold. The Youth Court reasoned that the deputies wisely entered the house to apprehend the underage drinkers in order both to preserve evidence and to ensure that the youths did not risk injury by escaping into the cold. The Youth Court concluded that the deputies would have been delayed too long had they waited to obtain a warrant. B.A.M. pleaded “true” to all charges, while reserving his right to appeal the evidentiary issue. B.A.M. appeals.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶9 We review a district court’s denial of a motion to suppress to determine whether the district court’s findings of fact are clearly erroneous and whether the district court’s interpretation and application of the law is correct. State v. Rookhuizen, 2007 MT 312, ¶ 6, 340 Mont. 148, ¶ 6, 172 P.3d 1257, ¶ 6.

DISCUSSION

¶10 B.A.M. argues principally that exigent circumstances did not exist to justify the deputies’ warrantless entry of the Landrau house. We need not address B.A.M.’s exigent circumstances argument, however, as evidence of the crimes with which the State charged B.A.M. was admissible regardless of whether the deputies had conducted an illegal warrantless search of the Landrau house.

¶11 Evidence obtained through search and seizure in violation of the Fourth Amendment constitutes “fruit of the poisonous tree” that falls under the exclusionary rule. State v. Therriault, 2000 MT 286, ¶ 57, 302 Mont. 189, ¶ 57, 14 P.3d 444, ¶ 57. Montana recognizes three exceptions to the “fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.” Therriault, ¶ 58. The evidence will be admissible notwithstanding a Fourth Amendment violation if it is (1) attenuated from the constitutional violation so as to remove its primary taint; (2) obtained from an independent source; or (3) determined to be evidence that inevitably would have been discovered apart from the constitutional violation. Therriault, ¶ 58 (citing State v. New, 276 Mont 529, 536, 917 P.2d 919, 923 (1996)).

¶12 The State argues that the evidence was sufficiently attenuated from the alleged constitutional violation as to remove its primary taint as B.A.M. committed the charged offenses in response to the deputies’ presence after the deputies had entered the Landrau house. The State [52]*52relies on Rookhuizen, ¶ 13, for the proposition that this Court deems admissible evidence of offenses committed in response to conduct that violates the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Rookhuizen concerned two bail agents’ warrantless entry into the defendant’s girlfriend’s house. The defendant responded to the warrantless entry by threatening the bail agents with a gun. Rookhuizen, ¶ 4. The State charged the defendant with assault. The defendant moved to suppress all evidence obtained after the illegal entry. Rookhuizen, ¶ 5. This Court relied upon State v. Courville, 2002 MT 330, 313 Mont. 218, 61 P.3d 749, and State v. Ottwell, 239 Mont. 150, 779 P.2d 500 (1989), in affirming the trial court’s denial of Rookhuizen’s motion to suppress. ¶13 The Court determined that offenses committed in response to a Fourth Amendment violation constituted “an unlawful response regardless of whether the [state actor] had violated [the defendant’s] federal or state constitutional rights.” Rookhuizen, ¶ 13. The Court reasoned that evidence of criminal conduct committed against an officer in response to an improper search or stop is so attenuated from the claimed improper search or stop that it “ los[es] its primary constitutional taint... and that the evidence is, therefore, not subject to the exclusionary rule.’ ”Rookhuizen, ¶ 13 (quoting Courville, ¶ 25). The Court further noted that failure to exclude such evidence could have the unwanted effect of encouraging violence toward state actors in response to illegal stops and searches. Rookhuizen, ¶ 13.

¶14 Similar circumstances existed in Courville, where the defendant assaulted and severely injured a police officer who allegedly had stopped the defendant illegally. Courville, ¶ 12. The defendant moved to suppress evidence of the assault and related crimes on the grounds that the officer had lacked particularized suspicion for the stop. Courville, ¶ 12. The Court affirmed the trial court’s denial of the defendant’s motion to suppress as “the exclusionary rule does not apply to evidence of criminal conduct committed in response to a claimed Fourth Amendment violation.” Courville, ¶ 23.

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Bluebook (online)
2008 MT 311, 192 P.3d 1161, 346 Mont. 49, 2008 Mont. LEXIS 467, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-bam-mont-2008.