State v. Yeates

732 P.2d 346, 112 Idaho 377, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 349
CourtIdaho Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 28, 1987
Docket16111
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 732 P.2d 346 (State v. Yeates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Yeates, 732 P.2d 346, 112 Idaho 377, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 349 (Idaho Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

SWANSTROM, Judge.

The state brings this interlocutory appeal to challenge the suppression of statements made by Kip Martin Yeates to officers in his home while they waited for a search warrant to arrive. Yeates cross appeals the denial of his motion to suppress the physical evidence found in his home. For the reasons that follow, we affirm in part, vacate in part and remand the case for trial.

In March 1985 undercover Officer Steven Van Vliet arranged to purchase ten pounds of marijuana from Paul Lineberry. The two met at a parking lot in Pocatello where Lineberry delivered a half-pound sample. Van Vliet then gave Lineberry $1,000 of recorded currency to secure the remaining nine and one-half pounds. It was agreed that Van Vliet would follow Lineberry to the supplier’s house and wait nearby. Van Vliet did so and observed Lineberry meet two men outside a mobile home. The three men went inside and in a few minutes came back out. Lineberry carried a green trash bag to his vehicle. He drove off to meet Van Vliet. The other two men, one of whom was later identified as Yeates, drove off in another vehicle. Lineberry and Van Vliet again met in the parking lot where the final exchange of money and drugs was to be made. Lineberry was arrested. He and his automobile were searched. He told the officers that he had given the money to Yeates, the supplier, in the mobile home.

The officers then began the process of obtaining a warrant to search the home which they learned was Yeates’ residence. At the same time, officers of the Department of Law Enforcement set up surveillance of the home. After roughly half an hour, a man and a woman emerged from the home and started to leave in an automobile. Fearing the disappearance of evidence, particularly the $1,000 buy money, the officers moved in. The two persons were handcuffed, searched for weapons, and taken back inside. Another woman met the officers at the door but there is no contention made by the state that the officers’ entry into the home was with consent. The officers conducted a security check to determine whether any other persons were present. They secured the premises to maintain the status quo until the arrival of a warrant authorizing them to conduct a search.

Before the warrant arrived, Yeates returned to the home. After being given Miranda warnings he was questioned and made incriminating statements including where the buy money and additional marijuana could be found. Subsequently, after the home had been “secured” for approximately two hours, the search warrant arrived. The officers then located the buy money and marijuana where Yeates said it would be and searched the home for additional evidence. The officers also obtained *380 statements from another person in the home, Darren Hill.

Yeates was charged with one count of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. He moved to suppress all the evidence obtained as a result of the warrantless entry and securing of his home. The district court, ruling that the officers had entered the home illegally, granted the motion. Then, on its own initiative, the court ordered further argument on the motion in light of State v. Hoak, 107 Idaho 742, 692 P.2d 1174 (1984). Based on the Hoak decision, which was not addressed at the first hearing, the court changed its ruling and decided the physical evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant was admissible. Yeates then filed a motion in limine to prohibit the use of his statements. The state appeals from the order granting this motion. Yeates cross appeals from the order denying suppression of evidence seized pursuant to the search warrant.

We must first decide whether this appeal is properly before us. An order granting a motion to suppress is appealable under I.A.R. 11(c)(4). As noted, Yeates’ motion was styled as a motion in limine. The state argued below, as it does here, that the motion was in fact a suppression motion. We agree. The basis for Yeates’ motion was that the statements were extracted by the officers in violation of Yeates’ constitutional rights. The thrust of the motion was to invoke the exclusionary rule to suppress otherwise admissible evidence. It was properly regarded as a suppression motion.

Having determined that the suppression order is appealable, we next address the question of whether the trial court erred by considering the motion. The state argues that the motion was untimely and should not have been considered. A motion to suppress illegally obtained evidence pursuant to I.C.R. 12(b)(3) must be filed within fourteen days after the entry of a not guilty plea or seven days before trial, whichever is earlier. I.C.R. 12(d). The rule also sets time limits for a hearing on the motion. The district judge did not indicate whether he considered the motion as a motion to suppress, subject to Rule 12, or as a motion in limine. He did state however that the motion was timely. Yeates had initially moved to suppress “any evidence the State would seek to introduce ... pursuant to [the] search____” This is broad enough to cover statements obtained from persons detained during the search. The motion in limine later sought to clarify the judge’s ruling concerning those statements. It relates back to the motion to suppress, the timeliness of which is not challenged. In considering the motion, the district judge clarified the scope of his prior order. We hold that the district judge did not abuse his discretion by considering the motion.

The state next asserts that the motion to suppress the statements was wrongly decided. The resolution of this issue, and of Yeates’ cross appeal, begins with a determination of the legality of the officers’ actions in securing the residence. The state submits that the warrantless securing of Yeates’ mobile home was justified by exigent circumstances. Our standard of review of this claim is “one of deference to factual findings unless they are clearly erroneous, but free review of a trial court’s determination as to whether constitutional requirements have been satisfied in light of the facts found.” State v. Rusho, 110 Idaho 556, 559, 716 P.2d 1328, 1331 (Ct.App.1986). For reasons we will now discuss, we hold that the securing of Yeates’ residence was illegal and that Yeates’ statements were tainted by that illegality.

The warrantless securing of a residence comes within the purview of the fourth amendment and is presumptively unreasonable. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967); United States v. Edwards, 602 F.2d 458 (1st Cir.1979). However, if officers have probable cause to search the residence and exigent circumstances are *381 present, a warrantless entry, for limited purposes, is permissible. United States v. Cuaron, 700 F.2d 582 (10th Cir.1983). In State v. Hoak, supra,

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Bluebook (online)
732 P.2d 346, 112 Idaho 377, 1987 Ida. App. LEXIS 349, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-yeates-idahoctapp-1987.