State v. Davis

582 P.2d 175, 119 Ariz. 529, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 252
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 12, 1978
Docket4166
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 582 P.2d 175 (State v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona 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. Davis, 582 P.2d 175, 119 Ariz. 529, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 252 (Ark. 1978).

Opinion

HAYS, Justice.

Appellant Frank Baldwin Davis, Jr., was found guilty by a jury of obstructing justice and assault with a deadly weapon. Imposition of sentence was suspended, and appellant was placed on probation for five years. As a condition of probation, appellant was required to spend six months in the Maricopa County Jail. Appellant was also ordered to spend thirty days in the custody of the Department of Corrections. The jail time was to begin upon appellant’s release from prison.

Appellant appealed to the Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction under 17A A.R.S. Supreme Court Rules, rule 47(e).

The victim of Davis’s assault with a deadly weapon was Glendale Police Officer Morache. Officer Morache testified that he had been parked at the curb in a residential area filling out reports about 10:30 P.M. He was pulling away from the curb with only his parking lights on when a car moving in the opposite direction swerved across the center of the street and came within approximately two feet of Morache’s car. The driver of the car yelled obscenities at the officer and told him that he should turn on his lights.

Noting that the driver’s behavior suggested intoxication or an irrational emotional state, Morache turned on his emergency lights, made a “U-turn,” and followed the driver. The driver did not stop for the officer’s flashing lights, but pulled into a residential driveway a short distance from where he first confronted the officer. Morache parked so that his car blocked this driveway, got out of his car, and ran up to appellant who had left his car and was moving toward the door of the residence. The officer looked into appellant’s car and saw no one in it. Morache was in uniform and was driving a marked police car.

Outside the house, Morache twice asked appellant for his driver’s license. Appellant answered with obscenities and refused to show his license. The officer noticed a faint smell of alcohol on appellant’s breath. After the officer’s second request, appellant opened the front door of the residence, walked in, and slammed the door in the officer’s face. Morache opened the door and walked in also. Appellant picked up a pool cue and held it as if he intended to strike the officer. Morache asked several more times to see appellant’s driver’s license; the appellant responded with obscenities and did not produce his license. Morache put his hand on the mace canister which hung from his belt. The appellant *532 threatened to kill the officer with the pool cue if the officer used the mace. At some point during this rapid series of events inside the house, Morache asked appellant to put down the cue stick. The officer never did use his mace, and he did not reach for his gun which was also on his belt.

The appellant, still holding the cue, walked into the kitchen and started to use the telephone; the officer followed him and tried to take the cue away from him. The appellant hit Morache on the top of the head twice with the cue. There followed a struggle between the officer and appellant during which both spun into walls, a kitchen window was broken, and the two ended up in a bedroom. The appellant was finally subdued and handcuffed with the help of additional officers who had responded to Officer Morache’s call for assistance.

After appellant was finally under control, the assisting officers noticed that Morache had a head wound and seemed dazed. Morache was taken to a hospital, treated for a cut on his head, and released (Glendale police officers are not issued helmets.)

Appellant argues that his convictions should be reversed because he was unlawfully arrested inside his home. A.R.S. § 13-1411 provides:

“Right of officer to break into building “An officer, in order to make an arrest either by virtue of a warrant, or when authorized to make such arrest for a felony without a warrant, as provided in § 13-1403, may break open a door or window of any building in which the person to be arrested is or is reasonably believed to be, if the officer is refused admittance after he has announced his authority and purpose.”

We believe that Officer Morache complied with this statute. The officer’s authority was apparent from his uniform. Appellant was aware of the officer’s purpose because the officer had asked to see appellant’s driver’s license and because appellant knew that only minutes before he had recklessly driven his car very close to the officer’s while yelling obscenities. Appellant must have realized that he was about to be arrested for his criminal behavior. The slamming of the door in the officer’s face indicated that the appellant was refusing admittance to the officer. The statute does not require explicit verbal statements of authority, purpose, or denied permission for the officer to enter. A nonverbal communication adequately satisfies the statute.

The series of events preceding appellant’s entry into the residence would have justified appellant’s arrest for obstructing justice. Appellant’s failure to stop for the officer’s flashing overhead lights, his refusal to show his driver’s license, his walking away from the officer, and attempting to secrete himself within the residence constituted resisting, delaying, or obstructing a public officer in the discharge of his duties, A.R.S. § 13-541; by these actions, appellant obstructed justice because he exerted himself to counteract or defeat the officer’s performance of the duty of identifying appellant and investigating the reason for appellant’s erratic driving and irrational behavior. State v. Snodgrass, 117 Ariz. 107, 570 P.2d 1280 (App. 1977). Since the officer could have arrested appellant outside the residence for the felony of obstructing justice, 1 the officer lawfully pursued appellant into the home under A.R.S. § 13-1411.

In addition to complying with the applicable statute (A.R.S. § 13-1411), officers must not violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution when entering a private home. In the recent case of State v. Ferguson, 119 Ariz. 55, 579 P.2d 559 (1978), we held that where exigent circumstances exist, officers may enter a private home without a warrant to make an arrest. The United States Supreme Court has stated that the following circumstances justify warrantless entry into *533 a private place: consent; response to an emergency; hot pursuit of a fleeing felon; and probability of imminent destruction of goods, or their removal from the jurisdiction. Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 26 L.Ed.2d 409 (1970); see also State v. Cook, 115 Ariz. 188, 564 P.2d 877 (1977).

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Bluebook (online)
582 P.2d 175, 119 Ariz. 529, 1978 Ariz. LEXIS 252, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-davis-ariz-1978.