United States v. Meixner

128 F. Supp. 2d 1070, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4033, 2001 WL 66243
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Michigan
DecidedJanuary 24, 2001
Docket1:00-cr-20025
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 128 F. Supp. 2d 1070 (United States v. Meixner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Michigan primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Meixner, 128 F. Supp. 2d 1070, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4033, 2001 WL 66243 (E.D. Mich. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION AND ORDER DENYING GOVERNMENT’S MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

LAWSON, District Judge.

On October 23, 2000, this Court filed a memorandum opinion and order granting the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. The Court found that a police officer’s warrantless entry into the defendant’s home was unlawful because it was not supported by either probable cause or exigent circumstances. Further, this Court held that the information obtained by the officer during the illegal entry tainted the affidavit that was subsequently submitted in support of a search warrant that was eventually issued authorizing the search of the defendant’s home. United States v. Meixner, 2000 WL 1597736 (E.D.Mich.2000).

The government has now filed a motion for reconsideration pursuant to E.D.Mich.LR 7.1(g)(3), 1 which states:

*1071 [T]he court will not grant motions for rehearing or reconsideration that merely present the same issues ruled upon by the court, either expressly or by reasonable implication. The movant must not only demonstrate a palpable defect by which the court and the parties have been misled but also show that correcting the defect will result in a different disposition of the case.

The government contends that this Court applied the wrong law legal standard in evaluating the level of suspicion that the officer must have to justify a warrantless entry in the circumstances of this case, and that the Court erroneously rejected the application of the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule.

I.

A.

On the issue of Michigan State Police Officer Douglas Tanner’s warrantless entry into the defendant’s home in Gladwin, Michigan, this Court held that warrantless entries and searches of a person’s home are presumptively unreasonable, that the government bears a heavy burden to demonstrate exigent circumstances that may excuse the failure to obtain a search warrant, and that one exception within the scope of exigent circumstances was that a police officer may enter and search a home when the officer has a reasonable belief that a person within needs immediate aid. Meixner, 2000 WL 1597786, *6-*7. After reviewing applicable precedent, this Court concluded:

The test is an objective one: the police officer must be able to point to “specific and articulable facts” at “the moment of the warrantless entry” that would lead a reasonable, experienced law enforcement officer to believe that someone inside the dwelling required immediate assistance. See United States v. Morgan, 743 F.2d 1158, 1162, 1163 (6th Cir.1984), United States v. Arch, 7 F.3d 1300, 1304 (7th Cir.1993).

Id. at *7.

The Court thereafter concluded that the government failed to make the required showing because there was no evidence in the record which established — i.e., which directly proved or from which reasonable inferences could be made — that there was someone inside the Meixner home who might require immediate aid at the time Officer Tanner made his warrantless entry. Id. at *9-*10. This Court noted that in cases applying other exigent- circumstance exceptions, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has field that the government must prove more than a “mere possibility” of an emergency. Id. at *7, citing United States v. Radka, 904 F.2d 357, 362 (6th Cir.1990) (dealing with the loss/destruction of evidence exception). That standard was recently reaffirmed in United States v. Ukomadu, 236 F.3d 333 (6th Cir.2001).

In its motion, the government has attempted to recast the Court’s holding as requiring “positive proof that an emergency existed,” rather than reasonable suspicion, to justify a warrantless entry made under exigent circumstances. Motion for Reconsideration, p. 3. The government argues that Officer Tanner was confronted with a situation highly indicative of a domestic dispute, and that if he had simply “left the scene of such circumstances at that point [he] would have been subject to criticism for abandoning his ... duty to protect a victim of assault.” Id., p. 4.

The government cites several cases from various circuits in support of its position, and in the course of its argument introduces now the concept that Officer Tanner’s warrantless entry may have been justified by his role as community caretaker. The Court will address in turn the facts in this case, the applicability of these decisions, and the notion that the community caretaking function might justify a warrantless entry in the circumstances of this case.

*1072 1.

In its memorandum opinion, this Court has recited the facts adduced at the prior evidentiary hearings. To summarize, Officer Tanner was dispatched to the Meixner house to investigate a 911 hang-up call. When he arrived, he found two occupants who appeared intoxicated, and circumstances suspicious of a domestic dispute. Before Tanner entered, the male occupant was removed from the house and the female occupant was present in the front room within Tanner’s view. Tanner testified that he “had a suspicion there may have been [a domestic assault] but not enough probable cause to make an arrest.” (Transcript of Officer Tanner’s testimony, p. 49). He also testified that the reason he entered the house was to offer immediate assistance to the female, Monica Allor. (Id. pp. 38-39). There was no evidence from which an inference could reasonably be drawn that there were other people in the home who required aid, and Tanner’s partner, Police Officer Gary Hubers, specifically testified that he had no reason to believe that someone else on the premises was injured.

2.

The government’s argument, that Officer Tanner would be justly criticized if he simply left the premises at that point, presupposes only two options for the officer: leave the scene or enter and search the house. On the continuum of responses, the government has identified the polls, and ignores those intermediate responses which define measured behavior and are characteristic of the reasonableness to which the Fourth Amendment makes reference. For instance, if there was a domestic dispute, the officer could bring both parties out of the house, separate them, satisfy himself that no further “flare-up” was likely, and then leave the premises. If violence ensued, or if the officer learned of an earlier assault, he could effectuate an arrest. There is no suggestion in this record, however, of a need to make a warrantless entry into the house in order for the officer to responsibly discharge his duties-in this case.

To argue otherwise, the government cites United States v. Brown, 64 F.3d 1083 (7th Cir.1995).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
128 F. Supp. 2d 1070, 2001 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4033, 2001 WL 66243, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-meixner-mied-2001.