State v. Adams
State v. Adams
Opinion
*664 Calvin Lamar Adams ("defendant") appeals the denial of his motion to suppress following the entry of judgments on his convictions for driving while impaired ("DWI") and resisting a public officer. For the following reasons, we find no error.
I. Background
On 7 October 2011, defendant was arrested and citations were issued for driving while license revoked ("DWLR"), DWI, resisting a public officer, and possession of less than one-half ounce of marijuana. Officers then sought and obtained a search warrant for defendant's house, vehicle, and person. Defendant's vehicle was seized during the execution of
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the search warrant on 8 October 2011. On 10 October 2011, defendant successfully petitioned for the pretrial release of his vehicle pursuant to
After several motions to continue the matter, defendant's case came on for trial in Gaston County District Court before the Honorable Richard B. Abernathy. On 9 December 2014, the DWLR charge was dismissed, defendant was found not guilty of possession of marijuana, and defendant was found guilty of impaired driving and resisting a public officer. Defendant gave notice of appeal.
Prior to his case coming on for trial in superior court, on 6 March 2015, defendant filed a motion to suppress all evidence obtained during and subsequent to his seizure on the bases that his seizure was unlawful, entry into his home was unlawful, and his arrest was unlawful-all in violation of defendant's constitutional rights. Defendant elaborated as follows: "[s]pecifically, law enforcement officers unlawfully seized [defendant] without the requisite reasonable suspicion and unlawfully entered his residence without a warrant or probable cause to arrest him. Moreover, those officers arrested him without probable cause."
Defendant's motion to suppress came on for hearing in Gaston County Superior Court before the Honorable Todd Pomeroy on 22 April 2015. The evidence presented at the suppression hearing tended to show as follows: Gastonia Police Officer C. Singer was *359 on routine patrol with Officer R. Ghant on 7 October 2011 when, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Officer Singer observed defendant driving a vehicle eastbound on Meade Avenue in the opposite direction the officers were traveling. Officer Singer was familiar with defendant and defendant's vehicle because he had stopped defendant and charged defendant with DWI on 27 July 2011, approximately three months prior. Officer Singer knew defendant's license had been suspended as a result of the July DWI and turned around to follow defendant in time to observe defendant pull into his driveway from Meade Avenue. Officer Singer then had Officer Ghant run defendant's tag and license information through DCI, which confirmed that defendant's license was revoked. *666 Upon the belief that defendant was driving while his license was suspended, Officer Singer pulled into defendant's driveway directly behind defendant's vehicle and initiated a traffic stop by activating his blue lights. By the time Officer Singer activated his lights, defendant had exited from the driver's seat of his vehicle and was approximately 15-20 feet away from the front door of his residence, walking toward the front door. At that time, Officer Ghant instructed defendant to stop and to get back inside his car. Despite having a boot on one of his feet as the result of an injury, defendant picked up his pace toward the front door and Officer Singer advised him to stop running. Officer Ghant pursued defendant while Officer Singer grabbed the in-car camera mic. Defendant entered the front door and then attempted to close the front door on Officer Ghant. Officer Ghant was able to keep the front door from shutting and held the door open until Officer Singer arrived. The officers were then able to force the front door open and made physical contact with defendant just inside the front door. Officer Singer then patted defendant down for a safety check and found what he believed was a bag of marijuana in defendant's pocket. Defendant was arrested and charged with DWLR, possession of marijuana, and resisting a public officer. Further observation of defendant after his arrest led Officer Singer to believe defendant was impaired. Consequently, another officer was called to perform field sobriety tests. Defendant was then additionally charged with DWI.
Following the evidence, defendant focused his argument for suppression on the officer's alleged illegal entry into defendant's residence. The State argued the officers were in hot pursuit. Upon consideration of the facts and arguments, the trial judge denied defendant's motion to suppress, concluding there was reasonable suspicion to stop defendant's vehicle for DWLR and probable cause to arrest for resisting a public officer once defendant ignored the blue lights and verbal commands to stop and entered his residence.
Defendant's DWI and resisting a public officer charges came on for trial in Gaston County Superior Court before the Honorable Robert T. Sumner on 17 August 2015. Prior to jury selection, the trial court addressed additional pretrial matters. Upon consideration of those matters, the trial court overruled defendant's objection to the introduction of a chemical analyst's affidavit into evidence, granted defendant's motion to exclude mention of prior DWI and DWLR charges against defendant, and denied defendant's motion to exclude marijuana evidence. The defense then alerted the trial judge that defendant's motion to suppress had been denied and, consequently, the defense may object when certain evidence or testimony was introduced. The trial then proceeded.
*667 On 19 August 2015, the jury returned verdicts finding defendant guilty of DWI and resisting a public officer. The convictions were consolidated and an impaired driving judgment was entered. Defendant received a 60-day sentence that was suspended on condition that defendant serve 24 months of unsupervised probation. Defendant gave notice of appeal in open court.
II. Discussion
On appeal, defendant argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the officers' entry into his residence to arrest him was unlawful. Thus, defendant contends all evidence of his impairment obtained as a result of the alleged unlawful entry was tainted and must be suppressed.
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Yet, as an initial matter, we address the State's contention that defendant waived the argument now asserted on appeal. It has long been the rule that "[i]n order to preserve a question for appellate review, a party must have presented the trial court with a timely request, objection or motion, stating the specific grounds for the ruling sought if the specific grounds are not apparent."
State v. Eason
,
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-977 governs motions to suppress evidence in superior court and provides, in pertinent part, that "[a] motion to suppress evidence in [S]uperior [C]ourt made before trial must be in writing and ... must state the grounds upon which it is made." N.C. Gen. Stat. § 15A-977(a) (2015). The State asserts that the only grounds for suppression identified by defendant in the pretrial motion were that there was no reasonable suspicion for the initial stop of defendant and there was no probable cause to believe defendant was involved in criminal activity. The State then contends that defendant abandoned those two grounds during the suppression hearing and argued only that there were no exigent circumstances warranting hot pursuit. The State contends the lack of exigent circumstances is the argument now asserted on appeal and that it was not contained in defendant's pretrial motion to suppress. We are not convinced. It is clear from defendant's motion that defendant asserts there was an unlawful entry into his residence to arrest *668 him "without a warrant and without exigent circumstances." While the motion does not mention "hot pursuit," the motion was sufficient to preserve the issue now on appeal.
Concerning preservation of the issues at trial, "[t]he law in this State is now well settled that 'a trial court's evidentiary ruling on a pretrial motion [to suppress] is not sufficient to preserve the issue of admissibility for appeal unless a defendant renews the objection during trial.' "
State v. Hargett
, --- N.C. App. ----, ----,
Defendant, however, seeks to have this Court invoke Rule 2 of the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure to review the merits of his case if his arguments are not otherwise preserved. That rule allows this Court to "suspend or vary the requirements or provisions of any of [the appellate rules] in a case pending before it upon application of a party or upon its own initiative[ ]" in order to prevent manifest injustice to a party. N.C. R. App. P. 2 (2016). In our discretion, we invoke Rule 2 and reach the merits of this case.
Generally, our review of a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress is "strictly limited to determining whether the trial judge's underlying findings of fact are supported by competent evidence, in which event they are conclusively binding on appeal, and whether those factual findings in turn support the judge's ultimate conclusions of law."
State v. Cooke
,
However, because there was no objection to the evidence below, defendant asserts the proper standard of review in the present case upon invoking Rule 2 is plain error.
For error to constitute plain error, a defendant must demonstrate that a fundamental error occurred at trial. To *670 show that an error was fundamental, a defendant must establish prejudice-that, after examination of the entire record, the error had a probable impact on the jury's finding that the defendant was guilty.
State v. Lawrence
,
While we agree plain error review is proper, it makes no difference in this case because if the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress, it is certain that the error was fundamental because there would be no evidence of impairment to support the DWI charge if defendant's motion to suppress had been allowed. Thus, in the present case, where there is no dispute as to the relevant facts, we address only the application of search and seizure law.
"Both the United States and North Carolina Constitutions protect against unreasonable searches and seizures."
State v. Otto
,
With respect to exigent circumstances, this Court has explained: Exigent circumstances exist when there is [a] situation that demands unusual or immediate action and that may allow people to circumvent usual procedures.... The United States Supreme Court has approved the following exigent circumstances justifying warrantless searches and seizures: (1) where law enforcement officers are in "hot pursuit" of a suspect; (2) where there is immediate and present danger to the public or to law enforcement officers; (3) where destruction of evidence is imminent;
*671 and (4) where the gravity of the offense for which the suspect is arrested is high.
State v. Jordan
, --- N.C. App. ----, ----,
Defendant now contends there were no exigent circumstances warranting entry into defendant's home to arrest defendant. We disagree.
It is undisputed that the officers had reasonable suspicion to initiate an investigatory stop of defendant for DWLR when they pulled into defendant's driveway behind him and activated the blue patrol car lights as defendant was exiting his vehicle and making his way toward his front door. Defendant did not stop for the blue lights and then continued hurriedly toward the front door after the officers told defendant to stop. At that point, the officers had probable cause to arrest defendant for resisting a public officer and began a "hot pursuit" of defendant, one of the exigent circumstances delineated by the courts. The officers arrived at the front door of defendant's residence just as defendant made his way across the threshold and were able to prevent defendant from closing the door. Officers then forced the front door open and detained and arrested defendant just inside the front door. We hold such warrantless entry and arrest was proper under
United States v. Santana
,
In
Santana
, the Supreme Court addressed whether hot pursuit justified the warrantless entry into the home of a defendant to arrest that defendant when the defendant retreated from the threshold of the house into the vestibule upon the arrival of the police. Relying on
United States v. Watson
,
In the present case, defendant does not argue the officers were not in hot pursuit, but instead contends the officers' entry into
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defendant's residence was unreasonable because there was no threat of violence, no evidence subject to destruction, and no likelihood of defendant fleeing his own home to elude detection. Defendant's assertions, however, fail to recognize that defendant was considered fleeing when he failed to stop upon the activation of the blue lights and the officers' commands to stop. As the Court recognized in
Santana
, "[t]he fact that the pursuit here ended almost as soon as it began did not render it any the less a 'hot pursuit' sufficient to justify the warrantless entry into [defendant's] house."
Id
. at 43, 96 S.Ct. at 2410,
Defendant also argues the officers' decision to engage in hot pursuit was unreasonable. Defendant cites
State v. Johnson
,
In
Johnson
, officers obtained arrest warrants for two individuals believed to be located at the defendant's residence, went to the defendant's residence to serve the arrest warrants, and, upon arrival, chased an individual falsely believed to be identified in one of the arrest warrants into the defendant's residence, whereupon the officers discovered controlled substances.
Johnson
,
while in this case, it is evident that, at the time of entry into defendant's home, [the officer] was engaged in the "hot pursuit" of a person he suspected to be a fugitive, the issue remains as to whether there was an unjustified delay or failure to obtain a search warrant after the existence of probable cause as to the whereabouts of the suspects.
Id
. at 586,
Similarly, other cases relied on by defendant, such as
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Welsh
,
As described above, in this case, the officers initiated an investigatory stop for DWLR in front of defendant's residence and then pursued defendant into his residence to arrest him for resisting a public officer when he did not obey their orders to stop. By definition, this was hot pursuit.
*674 III. Conclusion
For the reasons discussed, we invoke Rule 2 to reach the merits of defendant's argument and hold there was no error below.
NO ERROR.
Judges STEPHENS and ZACHARY concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.