State v. Robinson

2010 WI 80, 786 N.W.2d 463, 327 Wis. 2d 302, 2010 Wisc. LEXIS 112
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 2010
Docket2008AP266-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by113 cases

This text of 2010 WI 80 (State v. Robinson) 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. Robinson, 2010 WI 80, 786 N.W.2d 463, 327 Wis. 2d 302, 2010 Wisc. LEXIS 112 (Wis. 2010).

Opinions

ANNETTE KINGSLAND ZIEGLER, J.

¶ 1. This is a review of a published decision of the court of appeals1 that affirmed a judgment of conviction entered upon a guilty plea by the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Joseph R. Wall, Judge. Acting upon an anonymous informant's tip and what they believed to be an outstanding felony arrest warrant, police officers forcibly entered and subsequently searched the apartment of Terion Lamar Robinson (Robinson). Following the circuit court's denial of his motion to suppress, Robinson pled guilty to one count of possession with intent to deliver tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), 200 grams or less, in violation of Wis. Stat. § 961.41(lm)(h)l (2005-06).2 On appeal, Robinson argues that the officers' warrantless entry into his apartment and subse[309]*309quent search violated his constitutional rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. We disagree and therefore affirm the court of appeals decision.

¶ 2. The dispositive issue in this case is whether the police officers' warrantless entry into Robinson's apartment and subsequent search was supported by probable cause and justified by exigent circumstances when the officers corroborated three of the four details relayed by an anonymous informant, knocked and announced their presence, and immediately heard footsteps running from the door.

¶ 3. Assuming without deciding that the commitment order for unpaid fines did not constitute an arrest warrant and therefore was insufficient to permit the police officers' lawful entry into Robinson's apartment, we conclude that the warrantless entry was nevertheless reasonable because it was supported by probable cause and justified by exigent circumstances. First, we determine that the police officers' warrantless entry into Robinson's apartment was supported by probable cause. Because the officers corroborated each of the three preliminary details provided by the anonymous informant, it was reasonable for the officers to then [310]*310believe, as the informant had alleged, that evidence of illegal drug activity would probably be found in Robinson's apartment. Second, we conclude that the police officers' warrantless entry into Robinson's apartment was justified by exigent circumstances. Once Robinson was aware of the officers' presence outside his door and footsteps were immediately heard running from the door, the officers reasonably believed that Robinson would destroy evidence of his illegal drug activity. Finally, we conclude that once inside the apartment, the officers lawfully seized the evidence in plain view and arrested Robinson.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND AND PROCEDURAL POSTURE

¶ 4. On November 6, 2006, an anonymous citizen walked into Milwaukee's District Five police station and informed Officer Wesam Yaghnam (Officer Yaghnam) that a man by the name of Terion Robinson was selling marijuana out of his apartment. The citizen provided Officer Yaghnam with Robinson's complete address, 7233 North 38th Street in Milwaukee, Apartment 8, in addition to Robinson's cell phone number.

¶ 5. Officer Yaghnam then conducted a warrant check on the Crime Information Bureau (CIB) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) databases.3 According to Officer Yaghnam's testimony at the suppression hearing, his search revealed that Robinson [311]*311"had two open warrants," one for a "family offense" and another for "the possession of [or] delivery of a controlled substance." Listed on the screen were the names of the warrants, what the warrants were for, and their case numbers. The warrant for possession or delivery of a controlled substance had a felony case number.

¶ 6. Consistent with his usual practice, Officer Yaghnam did not pull the warrants and testified that he does not always have the capability of doing so. Instead, "[a]ll [the officers] do is [] run on the system. If it comes back with a warrant, then that is in good faith, and that is how [they] arrest."

¶ 7. After conducting the warrant check, Officer Yaghnam and several other officers4 went to the address identified by the anonymous informant as Robinson's apartment. The officers did not seek a search warrant, as they were intending to conduct a "knock and talk."5 The officers were let into the building by another resident. Some officers, including Officer [312]*312Yaghnam, proceeded upstairs to Apartment 8, while others remained outside to secure the exits.

¶ 8. According to Officer Yaghnam, the officers knocked on the door to Apartment 8 several times with no answer. They knocked again and heard movement inside the apartment, leading them to believe that somebody was inside. At that point, Officer Yaghnam called the cell phone number provided by the anonymous informant. A phone rang on the other side of the door, but nobody answered. Officer Yaghnam described the succeeding events as follows:

Q [Attorney Merten, on behalf of the State]: What happened next?
A [Officer Yaghnam]: I then knocked on the door again, and then a male voice replied, "Who is it?" I then replied, "Terion?" And he stated, "Yes," actually, ’Yeah." Then I identified myself as, "The Milwaukee police department. You need to open the door." And that is when I heard footsteps running from the door.
Q: And when you said you heard footsteps running from the door, was that — how quickly after the fact that you identified yourself as a Milwaukee Police Department officer did you hear that?
[313]*313A: Immediately.
Q: And when you heard those footsteps, what did you do then?
A: Then, fearing for the safety of possibly him destroying evidence or escaping, we then forced entry into the building, into the apartment.
Q: How soon did you force entry after you heard those footsteps?
A: Immediately.
Q: And how did you force entry?
A: By kicking open the door.

¶ 9. After Officer Yaghnam kicked open the door, he and the other officers proceeded into the apartment. Upon entering the residence, Officer Yaghnam identified a "pretty strong" odor of burnt marijuana. He described the apartment's layout as an "open concept." Immediately to the right of the door was a kitchen, which opened up to a dining room. Robinson was standing in the dining room. The dining room flowed into a living room, where the officers found a female later identified as Roxanne Reindl (Reindl). The apartment had a balcony exit, accessible by a sliding door located between the dining room and living room. Officer Yaghnam observed loose marijuana on a coffee table in the living room and several individual bags of marijuana inside an open cooler next to the couch.

¶ 10. Officer Yaghnam arrested Robinson, citing as the basis Robinson's "open warrants."6 He then searched Robinson's person and recovered "a large [314]*314amount of currency"7 and a cell phone. The cell phone's number matched the one Officer Yaghnam previously dialed.

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Bluebook (online)
2010 WI 80, 786 N.W.2d 463, 327 Wis. 2d 302, 2010 Wisc. LEXIS 112, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-robinson-wis-2010.