State v. Garcia

370 P.3d 512, 276 Or. App. 838, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 290
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedMarch 9, 2016
DocketC121436CR; A154834
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 370 P.3d 512 (State v. Garcia) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Garcia, 370 P.3d 512, 276 Or. App. 838, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 290 (Or. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

TOOKEY, J.

In this criminal case, defendant appeals a judgment of conviction for coercion, ORS 163.275, menacing, ORS 163.190, harassment, ORS 166.065, and two counts of assault in the fourth degree, ORS 163.160. In his first assignment of error, defendant contends that the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of the law enforcement officers’ war-rantless search of his home under Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution1 and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.2 We agree that the warrant-less search of defendant’s home and the seizure of evidence therein violated defendant’s rights under Article I, section 9, and accordingly, we reverse and remand.3

We review the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion to suppress for errors of law. State v. Ehly, 317 Or 66, 74-75, 854 P2d 421 (1993). We are bound by the trial court’s findings of fact as long as there is constitutionally sufficient evidence in the record to support them. Id. at 75. In the absence of express factual findings, we presume that the trial court decided the disputed facts in keeping with its ultimate conclusion. Id. On appeal, “[o]ur function is to decide whether the trial court applied legal principles correctly to those facts.” Id.

We describe the facts consistently with those standards. Officers Barrington and Corning responded to a 9-1-1 call placed by defendant’s neighbor. The neighbor reported that he thought a domestic disturbance was occurring at defendant’s home because he and his brother [840]*840had heard mostly male screaming and “possibly hitting” off and on for the last hour coming from defendant’s home. Barrington arrived at 3:20 p.m. and parked down the street from defendant’s home. While Barrington was awaiting Coming’s arrival, Barrington approached defendant’s home on foot. He could hear a TV on inside at a low volume, but did not hear any noises like those described by defendant’s neighbor.

Corning arrived at 3:27 p.m., and the two officers approached the front door of defendant’s home. They noticed that the front door was open but the screen door was shut, and they saw defendant sitting on a couch in his living room but did not see anyone else in the home. Barrington told defendant that they were investigating a disturbance at his home that had been called in by one of his neighbors and requested that he step outside to speak with him. Defendant repeatedly refused to come outside and instead stood in the middle of the doorway. At that time Barrington noticed a strong odor of alcohol coming from defendant, who continued to refuse Barrington’s requests to step outside or allow them to come inside. Defendant did not offer any explanation for the noises coming from his home, denied that anyone had been screaming, and repeatedly denied that anyone else was in his home.

Barrington informed defendant that they were investigating a crime, told defendant that he was giving defendant a lawful order to step outside, and informed defendant that, if he refused the lawful order to step outside, he would be arrested. After defendant continued to refuse to step outside, or allow either of the officers to enter his home, Barrington arrested defendant for interfering with a police officer, pulled him out of the doorway onto the front porch, and placed him in handcuffs. Defendant became very hostile and uncooperative, and he began cursing at the officers.

After Barrington advised defendant of his Miranda rights, Barrington asked defendant once again if there was anyone else in the home, and defendant admitted that his wife was inside. Because defendant had been so confrontational and had lied to Barrington about defendant’s wife being inside the home, Barrington became even more concerned [?]*?that defendant’s wife was inside and injured. Specifically, Barrington and Corning, who had not heard any other person inside of the home while talking with defendant, were concerned that defendant’s wife might be unconscious or injured to the point that she could not respond or request assistance. Barrington then asked defendant if he had been fighting with his wife. Defendant replied that he wanted to speak with his lawyer, and Barrington escorted him to his patrol car which was parked at the end of the street.

After defendant was placed in handcuffs and removed from the front door area, Corning immediately entered the home to see if he could contact defendant’s wife, G. Once Corning entered the home, he called out for G from the living room but did not receive a response. Corning began walking down the hallway while identifying himself as a police officer, and G emerged from a room in the back of the home. Corning escorted G to the living room and noticed that G’s face and eyes were red, as if she had been crying. Although G was not calm or composed and seemed “kind of frazzled,” Corning did not observe any injuries at that time. During the conversation that Corning had with G before Barrington returned from escorting defendant to his patrol car, G stated that she had been in an argument with defendant, but, at that point, she did not indicate that there had been a physical altercation or request any assistance.

After placing defendant in his patrol car and driving back to the front of defendant’s home, Barrington entered the home and saw that G was now seated on the couch in the living room. Upon entering the home, Barrington noticed multiple old bruises on G’s arms. He also observed that G’s face was red as if she had been crying and he asked her if she needed any immediate medical assistance. G refused Barrington’s offer to provide medical assistance.

Despite G’s refusal of Barrington’s offer to provide medical assistance, Barrington, as well as other officers who had arrived, continued to investigate, asking G what had happened in the home. Ultimately, as the questioning continued, G made multiple statements to the police relating to a number of domestic violence incidents, including the one that had occurred on that day.

[842]*842Based on G’s statements to the police and other evidence gathered in the home, defendant was charged with multiple offenses involving domestic violence. He moved to suppress all the evidence gathered as a result of the war-rantless entry into his home under Article I, section 9, and the Fourth Amendment. In defendant’s motion to suppress, he contended that the officers’ warrantless search of his home was not justified by the emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement, and, thus, all evidence derived from the unlawful entry of his home should be suppressed. Alternatively, defendant contended that, once Corning observed that G had no recent injuries and she did not request medical attention, any potential emergency dissipated and all evidence gathered after that point in time should be suppressed.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
370 P.3d 512, 276 Or. App. 838, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 290, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-garcia-orctapp-2016.