State v. Cleveland

348 N.W.2d 512, 118 Wis. 2d 615, 1984 Wisc. LEXIS 2570
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 30, 1984
Docket82-1399-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by67 cases

This text of 348 N.W.2d 512 (State v. Cleveland) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Cleveland, 348 N.W.2d 512, 118 Wis. 2d 615, 1984 Wisc. LEXIS 2570 (Wis. 1984).

Opinions

SHIRLEY S. ABRAHAMSON, J.

This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals, State v. Cleveland, 114 Wis. 2d 213, 338 N.W.2d 500 (Ct. App. 1983), reversing the judgment of conviction and reversing an order denying postconviction relief of the circuit court for Burnett county, Harry F. Gundersen, Circuit Judge.

Three issues are on review. The first issue is whether in execution of a search warrant the police officers were justified in making a “no-knock” entry, that is, entering the residence without first announcing their presence (identity) and purpose and allowing time for the door to be opened. The second issue is whether the defendant waived the right to raise the fourth amendment claim by failing to file a suppression motion or whether the failure to file the suppression motion resulted from ineffective assistance of counsel, thereby vitiating any waiver.1 The third issue is whether the defendant had standing to object to the manner in which the police executed the search warrant.

[619]*619We hold that no special circumstances are present in this case justifying the no-knock entry in execution of the warrant. We have reviewed the merits of the fourth amendment claim because of the importance of the question presented and do not therefore reach the questions of waiver and ineffective counsel. We also conclude that the defendant did have standing to litigate the fourth amendment claim. Accordingly we affirm the decision of the court of appeals.

The facts relevant to the issues before this court are not in dispute. On June 29, 1980, the Burnett county court commissioner issued a search warrant authorizing a search of a cabin for controlled substances, along with drug paraphernalia, records, and other evidence of the purchase or sale of controlled substances.2 The warrant authorized the officers to “enter the buildings or vehicles on the said premises without having to knock at any doors, identify themselves as officers before entering or give any prior warning of their duty or purpose before entering to individuals inside the buildings or vehicles [620]*620until the officers have had sufficient time to secure the vehicles, buildings and persons therein.”

The affidavit by an investigator for the sheriff’s department in support of the request for the warrant stated that a reliable informant reported that he had observed the occupants of the cabin in possession of phencyclidine (PCP), a controlled substance, that the occupants had sold PCP, and that they would be returning to the cabin from Chicago around June 28 or 29, 1980, with PCP which they would attempt to sell. The affiant stated that Burnett county authorities had previously observed drug sales at the cabin.

The affiant also requested that a no-knock provision be inserted in the warrant, stating that the particular controlled substances which were the subject of the search could be “readily disposed of or concealed.” This part of the affidavit stated the affiant’s basis for requesting no-knock authority as follows:

“ [The affiant] has ten years experience in drug investigation and affiant has learned during this experience that the substances he has prayed be searched for in this affidavit are readily disposed of or concealed when officers enter building for the purpose of locating and securing possession of them thus making it likely that in the absence of being able to enter such building freely and without prior warning the substances may be disposed of or concealed.”

Burnett county sheriff’s officers executed the search warrant at 9:30 a.m. on Sunday, June 29, 1980. The officers did not announce their presence and purpose; instead, finding the door to the cabin unlocked, they simply walked in. No force or violence was used at any time. The officers found the defendant in the bedroom with a female companion. The officers then identified themselves, announced their purpose, and searched the cabin. The officers found several grams of phencyclidine, [621]*621a schedule I controlled substance, packaged in foil packets.

The defendant did not bring a pretrial motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the search, nor did he object to its introduction at trial. He was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and sentenced to five years imprisonment.

The defendant filed a motion for postconviction relief, asserting that the evidence obtained during the search of the cabin was obtained in violation of his fourth amendment rights. The only challenge to the validity of the warrant or to the search was the propriety of the no-knock provision in the warrant and the no-knock entry in execution of the warrant. He also asserted that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to raise this issue. The trial court, without granting an evidentiary hearing, denied the motion. The court of appeals summarily reversed and remanded for a hearing on the defendant’s fourth amendment and ineffective assistance of counsel claims.

At the hearing, the defendant’s trial counsel testified that he had three reasons for not challenging the no-knock entry: (1) the warrant authorized such a search,

(2) a challenge would have been fruitless because the judge who would hear the motion would have been the same judge who authorized the no-knock entrance, and

(3) his client was in the midst of plea negotiations. Counsel testified further that his research on the issue consisted solely of checking ch. 968 of the statutes and possibly a practice manual; he did not research case law in Wisconsin or any other jurisdiction.

The trial court again denied the defendant’s motion for postconviction relief. After the defendant filed an appeal, the court of appeals requested that this court accept certification of the appeal; this court refused. [622]*622The court of appeals then concluded that the no-knock entry was invalid, that the defendant’s trial counsel was ineffective for failure to file a suppression motion, and that the evidence seized in the search should be suppressed. The state appealed the decision to this court.

The first issue we address is whether the police officers were justified in making a no-knock entry.

The requirement that police officers seeking to enter a dwelling in execution of a warrant must announce their presence (identity) and purpose and allow time for the door to be opened, known as the rule of announcement, has long been recognized in Anglo-American common law.3 The earliest common-law decision enunciating the rule apparently was in 1603 in Semayne’s Case, 5 Coke Rep 91a, 91b, 11 Eng. Rul. Cas. 629, 631, 77 Eng. Rep. 194, 195, where the court said:

“In all cases when the King is party, the sheriff (if the doors be not open) may break the party’s house, either to arrest him, or to do other execution of the K[ing]’s process, if otherwise he cannot enter. But before he breaks it, he ought to signify the cause of his coming, and to make request to open doors.”

[623]*623The rule of announcement addresses the manner in which a legitimate government intrusion is to take place. The rule serves three important purposes: (1) protecting the individual’s privacy in the home;4

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Bluebook (online)
348 N.W.2d 512, 118 Wis. 2d 615, 1984 Wisc. LEXIS 2570, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-cleveland-wis-1984.