United States v. Morales

913 F. Supp. 132, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1038, 1996 WL 37795
CourtDistrict Court, D. Rhode Island
DecidedJanuary 30, 1996
DocketCR No. 95-045B
StatusPublished

This text of 913 F. Supp. 132 (United States v. Morales) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Morales, 913 F. Supp. 132, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1038, 1996 WL 37795 (D.R.I. 1996).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

FRANCIS J. BOYLE, Senior District Judge.

On April 22, 1995 at approximately 8:50 pm, the North Providence Police Department responded to a call about a possible shooting and abduction at 1776 Bicentennial Way, North Providence, Rhode Island. At that address, the police spoke to a woman who reported that around 8:15 pm she heard what sounded to be a single gun shot and saw two men struggling in the residential parking lot until one man shoved the other in a dark car and drove off.

Upon inspection of the parking lot, situated between buildings P and R of the apartment complex, the policemen found one spent shell casing and a wallet on the ground, containing a Massachusetts Driver’s License issued to the defendant, Alejandro Morales.

At approximately 10:30 pm that same evening, the Providence Police Department went to 405 Atwells Avenue, Providence, a local tattoo shop, in response to a call about a man being bound and shot. The man turned out to be the defendant. Apparently, Mr. Morales had struggled into the shop and the owner removed handcuffs and tape binding him. Once the police arrived, Morales told them he had been shot, abducted and taken to an abandoned building located around the corner from the tattoo shop. Police officer Thomas Verdi asked Morales if anyone else was shot with him, and he replied “no”. By about 11:15 pm the Providence police found the described building at 26 Ames Street in Providence.

Detective Commander Albert Decristofano of the North Providence Police went to the 1776 Bicentennial scene between 9:37 pm and 10 pm and informed the officers that the Providence Police had found the shooting victim, Mr. Morales. Then at approximately 10:35 pm, Decristofano went to the Rhode Island Hospital (RIH) to interview Morales. The interview was quite short because Morales was in the midst of receiving treatment for his gunshot wound. It was ascertained that Morales occupied apartment R-5 of the complex. Decristofano did not ask the defendant if there were other shooting victims.

After the hospital visit, Decristofano went to the tattoo shop .located at 405 Atwells Avenue. At that point, no persons at the shop wanted to cooperate with the investigation. The detective then made a brief survey of the basement scene at 26 Ames Street. After completing his investigations at those sites, at about 10:45 pm, Decristofano instructed the officers at 1776 Bicentennial Way to go into Mr. Morales’ apartment, R-5. Detective Decristofano testified that he had “no reason” to believe that another victim was present in the defendant’s apartment.

Supposing that there may be additional victims, a Providence police officer entered Mr. Morales’ apartment without a warrant, more than two hours after Mr. Morales’ was injured and at least an hour and forty minutes after the police were informed of the abduction. Once inside the apartment, the search yielded no bodies, but the police officers allegedly saw glassine envelopes, a scale, sifters, and other drug paraphernalia in plain "view on the kitchen table. Based upon the contraband sighted, the police sought a search warrant which was issued for apartment R-5 and executed the following morning. The defendant, Alejandro Morales, was subsequently charged with narcotic and firearm offenses. The defendant filed a Motion to Suppress all items seized at his apartment on April 23, 1995, claiming that the initial warrantless entry into the apartment violated his Fourth Amendment rights. He argues that the evidence gathered on April 23, 1993 were “fruits of the poisonous tree” and thus, should be suppressed. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 417-19, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1962); See also United States v. Thomas Bartelho, 71 F.3d 436 (1st Cir.1995).

The Government contends that the war-rantless entry was justified because of the immediate need to ascertain whether there were additional victims. In rebuttal, the de[134]*134fendant argues that while a warrantless emergency entry may be permissible, it must be based upon facts which create an objectively reasonable belief that such an intrusion is appropriate. The defendant asserts that there were no facts to support an objectively reasonable belief that an emergency existed. The Court agrees with the defendant.

I. Discussion

A. The Emergency Exception

It is a well-known mantra, searches conducted without a warrant are “per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment — subject only to a few established and well-delineated exceptions.” Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 514, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). The burden lies squarely with the government to show that the search in question falls within one of those exceptional circumstances. Vale v. Louisiana, 399 U.S. 30, 34, 90 S.Ct. 1969, 1972, 26 L.Ed.2d 409 (1970). One such accepted exception is labeled “exigent circumstances”, those events which require immediate action by the police because there is no time to procure a warrant. McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451, 451-56, 69 S.Ct. 191, 191-94, 93 L.Ed. 153 (1948); See also United States v. Wilson, 36 F.3d 205, 209 (1st Cir.1994) (test for exigency is “whether there is such a compelling necessity for immediate action as will not brook the delay of obtaining a warrant”).

One type of exigent circumstance may arise when the officers believe that someone inside the premises is in need of immediate aid. ■ Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 392, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 2413, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978). But the Supreme Court-cautions that a war-rantless search is not “justified by any emergency threatening life or limb.” Id. at 393, 98 S.Ct. at 2413-14. A search must be limited by “the exigencies which justify its initiation.” Id. ■ It is not crystal clear as to the degree of certainty police must possess before an emergency entry may be made. One legal commentator notes that to justify an intrusion, officers should “be able to point to specific and articulable facts which taken with rational inferences from those facts reasonably warrant the intrusion.” 2 W. La-Fave, SEARCH & Seizure § 6.6(a), at 698- (2d ed. 1987).

The First Circuit has developed a line of cases which finds exigent circumstances when the safety of law enforcement or the public is at stake. See, e.g., United States v. Lopez, 989 F.2d 24, 26 (1st Cir.1993), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 201, 126 L.Ed.2d 158 (1993); United States v. Rengifo, 858 F.2d 800, 805 (1st Cir.1988), cert. denied, 490 U.S. 1023, 109 S.Ct. 1752, 104 L.Ed.2d 189 (1989). The case law illustrates that warrantless intrusions under the paradigm of exigent circumstances will be allowed if based on coherent facts. For example, in United States v. Irizarry,

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Related

McDonald v. United States
335 U.S. 451 (Supreme Court, 1948)
Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Katz v. United States
389 U.S. 347 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Vale v. Louisiana
399 U.S. 30 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Mincey v. Arizona
437 U.S. 385 (Supreme Court, 1978)
United States v. Leon
468 U.S. 897 (Supreme Court, 1984)
Brown v. Chicopee Fire Fighters, Local 1710, Iaff
510 U.S. 872 (Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. Lopez Wilson
36 F.3d 205 (First Circuit, 1994)
United States v. Bartelho
71 F.3d 436 (First Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Tibolt
72 F.3d 965 (First Circuit, 1995)
Lewis L. Wayne v. United States
318 F.2d 205 (D.C. Circuit, 1963)
Helen Frances Sutton Root v. Isabel H. Gauper
438 F.2d 361 (Eighth Circuit, 1971)
United States v. John Henry Morgan
743 F.2d 1158 (Sixth Circuit, 1984)
United States v. George E. Veillette, Jr.
778 F.2d 899 (First Circuit, 1985)
United States v. Steven Dale Winsor
846 F.2d 1569 (Ninth Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Barbara J. Curzi
867 F.2d 36 (First Circuit, 1989)
United States v. Bryan A. Moss
963 F.2d 673 (Fourth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Alexander Lopez
989 F.2d 24 (First Circuit, 1993)
Abdi A. Sheik-Abdi v. Martin E. McClellan
37 F.3d 1240 (Seventh Circuit, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
913 F. Supp. 132, 1996 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1038, 1996 WL 37795, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-morales-rid-1996.