State v. Floor

2005 UT App 320, 119 P.3d 305, 530 Utah Adv. Rep. 9, 2005 Utah App. LEXIS 313, 2005 WL 1640532
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedJuly 14, 2005
DocketCase No. 20040779-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 2005 UT App 320 (State v. Floor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Floor, 2005 UT App 320, 119 P.3d 305, 530 Utah Adv. Rep. 9, 2005 Utah App. LEXIS 313, 2005 WL 1640532 (Utah Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

WILKINS, Associate Chief Justice:

T1 Defendant Pete Floor challenges the district court's rejection of his motion to suppress evidence seized from Floor's residence during the execution of a "knock-and-announce" search warrant. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

12 Detectives Doug Teerlink and Steve Cutler of the Salt Lake City Police Department Narcotics Squad approached the front door of Floor's residence in order to execute a "knock-and-announce" search warrant for drugs and drug related materials. The remainder of the team consisting of eight or nine uniformed SWAT team members waited secretly in the driveway. When Detectives Teerlink and Cutler reached the front door, they observed that it was already open and saw a female occupant of the residence standing just inside the door. Upon seeing them, the female resident, Connie Barnett, opened the sereen door and initiated a conversation with the two detectives, thinking that the two had come in reference to her lost dog. The detectives were dressed in plain clothes, and they could see Floor and another occupant in the front room.

T3 After a brief conversation, Detective Cutler showed his police badge as Detective Teerlink announced, "Salt Lake City Police, serving a search warrant." Barnett responded by attempting to retreat into the resi-denes, after which Detective Teerlink seized her arm to prevent her escape. Floor, who had positioned himself behind Barnett, grabbed her around the waist with both arms and pulled her and Detective Teerlink, who had taken hold of Barnett's arm, into the residence. Detective Cutler made an unsue- *307 cessful attempt to seize his partner to prevent him from being pulled into the residence. Barnett's attempt to flee and Floor's attempt to pull her into the residence led Detectives Teerlink and Cutler to believe that the occupants of the residence would resist any attempt of peaceable entry by the law enforcement agents. The detectives were concerned that if the occupants were allowed to fully retreat to unseen areas of the residence that the occupants could destroy the evidence of drugs being sought pursuant to the warrant or they could retrieve weapons and endanger the safety of the officers.

14 When Detective Burbank, the SWAT team leader, heard Detective Teerlink announce "Police, serving a search warrant," he moved the SWAT team into position by the front door. After shouting "police" several times, Burbank and the SWAT team entered the residence to subdue the occupants and execute the warrant. As a result of the search, the detectives found 0.6 grams of cocaine, drug paraphernalia, firearms, and a photograph of each of the occupants holding firearms. Floor was subsequently charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance, possession of a firearm by a restrict, ed person, and endangerment of a child.

'I 5 Floor waived his right to a preliminary hearing and filed a motion to suppress the evidence found in his home, arguing that the evidence was obtained during an unlawful search. Floor argued that the search was unlawful because the detectives failed to knock and announce their presence and then wait a reasonable time prior to entering the house. The district court denied the motion, finding that it would have been irresponsible for the SWAT team to remain outside the door when they could see a fellow officer involved in a physical struggle inside the door. The district court further concluded that, based on the actions of Barnett and Floor, the detectives were not required by either the Fourth Amendment or Utah's "knock-and-announce" statute to wait any longer outside the residence.

T6 Floor entered a conditional guilty plea to a reduced charge of unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a restricted person, both third degree felonies. He also reserved the right to appeal the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress. Floor filed a timely notice of appeal.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

17 We review the factual findings underlying the district court's decision to grant or deny a motion to suppress evidence under a clearly erroneous standard. State v. Krukowski, 2004 UT 94,1 11, 100 P.3d 1222. We further review the trial court's conclusions of law for correctness with some discretion given to the application of the legal standards to the underlying factual findings. State v. Brake, 2004 UT 95,%12, 103 P.3d 699.

ANALYSIS

4 8 The issue before us is whether the trial court appropriately denied Floor's motion to suppress evidence obtained during the execution of a "knock-and-announce" search warrant, despite Floor's claim that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights by failing to wait a reasonable time before entry.

19 The so-called "knock-and-announce" rule is not a new one, but is rooted in an old common law tradition. In Semayne's Case, the King's Bench held:

[The house of everyone is to him as his castle ....
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.... [ButJfiJn all cases when the King is a party, the sheriff (if the doors be not open) may break [into] the party's house, either to arrest him, or to do other execution of the King's process, if otherwise he cannot enter. But before he breaks [into] it, he ought signify the cause of his coming and to make request to open the doors.
... [FJjor the law without a default in the owner abhors the destruction or breaking [into] of any house (which is for the habitation and safety of man) by which great damage and inconvenience might ensue to the party when no default is in him; for perhaps he did not know of the process of *308 which, if he had notice, it is to be presumed that he would obey it.

Ti Eng.Rep. 194, 195-96 (K.B.1604); see Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. 927, 981-32, 115 S.Ct. 1914, 131 L.Ed.2d 976 (1995).

{10 In Utah, the "knock-and-announce" rule is incorporated into Utah Code section 7T7-28-210, which reads:

When a search warrant has been issued authorizing entry into any building, room, conveyance, compartment, or other enclosure, the officer executing the warrant may use such force as is reasonably necessary to enter:
(1) if, after notice of his authority and purpose, there is no response or he is not admitted with reasonable promptness; or
(2) without notice of his authority and purpose, if the magistrate issuing the warrant directs in the warrant that the officer need not give notice. The magistrate shall so direct only upon proof, under oath, that the object of the search may be quickly destroyed, disposed of, or secreted, or that physical harm may result to any person if notice were given.

Utah Code Ann. § 77-23-210 (20083) (emphasis added).

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Related

Wilson v. Arkansas
514 U.S. 927 (Supreme Court, 1995)
United States v. Maurice Kemp
12 F.3d 1140 (D.C. Circuit, 1994)
State v. Buck
756 P.2d 700 (Utah Supreme Court, 1988)
State v. Thurman
846 P.2d 1256 (Utah Supreme Court, 1993)
Brigham City v. Stuart
2005 UT 13 (Utah Supreme Court, 2005)
State v. Beavers
859 P.2d 9 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
State v. Brake
2004 UT 95 (Utah Supreme Court, 2004)
State v. Krukowski
2004 UT 94 (Utah Supreme Court, 2004)

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Bluebook (online)
2005 UT App 320, 119 P.3d 305, 530 Utah Adv. Rep. 9, 2005 Utah App. LEXIS 313, 2005 WL 1640532, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-floor-utahctapp-2005.