Schill v. State
Schill v. State
Concurring Opinion
{concurring). Here the court majority seems to seek not to reach and resolve the question of whether a police officer, engaged in serving a valid arrest warrant, may resort to ruse or role-playing to secure the opening of a closed door and the placing of the person named in the warrant under arrest. If so, its reach exceeds its grasp.
Clearly, the majority has upheld an arrest procedure where the warrant-serving officer did identify himself or his mission when asked who was at the door.
As clearly, as the writer sees it, the majority has held valid an arrest, entry and seizure where the mumbled response, “Nicky,” and “Yeh, man, open the door,” led the defendant to expect someone other than a police officer to be at the door. He would hardly have left the eyedroppers and heroin packets in plain view from the door if he had even suspected that a law officer might be outside the closed door.
Also clear, as this writer reads the cases, if, instead of posing as a “Nicky Serencoben,” a friend or customer
A very nearly unanimous holding of courts reaching the question have held that a warrant-serving officer may assume an identity other than that of policeman about to serve a warrant. Most of the cases have arisen in jurisdictions, as under the Federal Code,
Where a revenue agent, who had obtained a valid warrant for defendant’s arrest, gained admittance to defendant’s premises for the purpose of serving the warrant, the entry was held to be lawful, the arrest valid and search incident to such arrest permissible.
Where narcotic agents had reliable information that the defendant was ready to sell narcotics to a man named Lacey, and placed themselves outside defendant’s hotel room, and when asked, “Who’s there?” had an agent, disguising his voice, answer, “It’s Lacey; open up,” the arrest, entry and resultant conviction were upheld even though the officers had no warrant.
Where the arresting officer had a valid warrant for arrest to serve, and knocked on the door of defendant’s home and shouted, “Gas man” for the purpose of gaining admittance, the entry and arrest were found proper, the court finding no statutory bar or constitutional infirmity in the admitted use of a ruse to secure admittance.
Where police officers, who had reasonable cause to believe that the person to be arrested had committed an offense within the officers’ presence, though without warrant for his arrest, had the manager of a motel announce that there was a telephone call for a female companion of defendant in the motel room, and, when the companion opened the door, entered and arrested the defendant, the entry, arrest and incidental search were held “. . . not violative of California law or the United States Constitution.”
“‘[C] onstitutionally proscribed trickery is that in which an officer obtains entry by subterfuge to a place where he has no right to be. Stratagem in itself is not illegal; it may be used, for example, to gain entry in order to effect a lawful arrest.’ ”8
In the case before us, we do not deal with a “breaking” or entry by force.
The public policy or purpose to be served in the execution of arrest warrants is that of serving the person named in the warrant in as safe, error-free and danger-avoiding manner as can be effected. For the warrant-
I am authorized to state that Mr. Justice Leo B. Hanley joins in this concurring opinion.
Sec. 3109, Title 18, U. S. C.
California Penal Code, sec. 844.
Leahy v. United States (9th Cir. 1959), 272 Fed. 2d 487, 489, 490, the court holding, . . Misrepresentation of identity in order to gain admittance is not a breaking within the meaning of the statute, . . .” and “There is no constitutional mandate forbidding the use of deception in executing a valid arrest warrant. . . .”
Dickey v. United States (9th Cir. 1964), 332 Fed. 2d 773, 778, the court finding no forcible entry under the federal statute and
Smith v. United States (5th Cir. 1966), 357 Fed. 2d 486, citing with approval Leahy v. United States, supra.
United States v. Syler (7th Cir. 1970), 430 Fed. 2d 68, citing Leahy v. United States, supra, and other cases above summarized.
Ponce v. Craven (9th Cir. 1969), 409 Fed. 2d 621, 626, the court holding, “. . . The employment of a ruse which results in the occupant of a dwelling voluntarily opening the door and thereby allowing officers to enter without announcement of purpose, is not a breaking ....
“The manner in which the police entered Ponce’s motel room and his subsequent arrest are not violative of California law or the United States Constitution.”
Id. at page 626. On the importance of the officer’s right to be where he is at time of arrest or seizure, see Harris v. United States (1968), 390 U. S. 234, 236, 88 Sup. Ct. 992, 993, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1067, stating, “. . . It has long been settled that objects falling in the plain view of an officer who has a right to be in the position to have that view are subject to seizure and may be introduced in evidence. . . .”
Morales v. State (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 96, 106, 170 N. W. 2d 684, deals with forceful entry. To quote the opinion, “The defendant also questions the force which was employed by the officer in breaking down the door to his apartment. . . .”
Leahy v. United States, supra, footnote 3.
Opinion of the Court
The defendant initially asserts that the traffic arrest was invalid because the officer did not have the traffic warrant and capias in his posses
Secs. 954.02 (6) (a) and 954.03 (2), Stats. 1967, provide that physical possession of the warrant is not necessary at the time of the arrest. Under sec. 954.02 (6) (a), the defendant’s rights are satisfied in that he can, upon arrest, ask to see the warrant and such warrant must be shown to him as soon as possible. No such request was made at the time of the initial arrest and, in fact, the capias and warrant were shown to him within a short time after he was booked at the police station. No defect in the proceedings arises from the fact that Officer Monreal did not have the outstanding warrant in his possession at the time of the arrest.
We are also satisfied that the police officer’s unobstructed view of the heroin packets through the open door did not constitute a search. In the recent case of Milburn v. State, ante, p. 53, 183 N. W. 2d 70, we pointed out that a police officer’s view of coins and other articles inside a motor vehicle did not constitute a search in the constitutional sense. We quoted therein with approval Edwards v. State (1968), 38 Wis. 2d 332, 338, 339, 156 N. W. 2d 397 :
“ ‘A search can be conducted by one’s eyes alone. However, “A search implies a prying into hidden places for that which is concealed.” It is not a search to observe what is in plain view.’ ”
In Harris v. United States (1968), 390 U. S. 234, 236, 88 Sup. Ct. 992, 19 L. Ed. 2d 1067, the United States Supreme Court pointed out that objects that are in the plain view of an officer who has a right to be in the position from which the view is taken are subject to seizure and may be introduced into evidence.
We followed a similar rationale in State v. Dombrowski (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 486, 171 N. W. 2d 349.
The crucial and difficult question remains of whether Officer Monreal’s positioning himself so that the view could be had was the result of unreasonable police conduct that transgresses the principles of the fourth amendment. If so, the arrest for the possession of narcotics and their seizure was invalid.
The defendant contends that the circumstances of this case were similar to the situations warned against in Ker v. California, (1963), 374 U. S. 23, 83 Sup. Ct. 1623, 10 L. Ed. 2d 726. Ker, however, was primarily concerned with the question of whether the entry by the police into the premises of the defendant was unlawful. The supreme court found the entry therein constitutionally antiseptic because, almost immediately before, Ker had been observed having contact with narcotics suspects and, in light of the short period of time between his exposure to narcotics suspects and the time of the entry, this was substantially equivalent to a hot pursuit. Ker had furtively eluded the police only a short time before, and it was reasonable for the police officers to conclude that any announcement before entering would result in the destruction of the narcotics. Although the language of Ker is significant in demonstrating the penumbra of protection of a citizen’s privacy that is afforded by the fourth amendment, the facts are so different that they are not persuasive in the instant case.
In the instant case, it should be noted at the outset that the search, if one there was, was not made after the entry of the room but was a visual search which immediately and without the necessity of further investigation or entry gave rise to the probable cause that the defendant possessed heroin.
We pointed out in Morales v. State (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 96, 170 N. W. 2d 684, that, before breaking into a private place, a police officer must identify himself and his purpose and, except under special circumstances, must allow time for the door to be opened. In the instant case, there was no entry except one consented to, and there was no forcible breaking. There is absolutely nothing in the record to show that the arrest on the traffic charge was anything but proper police conduct. There is nothing to indicate that Officer Monreal engaged in any trickery or subterfuge for the purpose of securing narcotics evidence. The record, in fact, was to the contrary. He was doing precisely what the obligation of his employment required. Nor can we conclude that, when, as here, an officer in the good faith performance of his duty executes an arrest on one charge, he is required to ignore evidence of other crimes that he may come upon inadvertently in the course of his lawful duty. His obligations as a police officer are to the contrary, and it would appear that Officer Monreal acted reasonably under the circumstances. His position was not unlike that of the officers in Browne v. State (1964), 24 Wis. 2d 491, 129 N. W. 2d 175, 131 N. W. 2d 169, where it was held that the view of the defendant through an open doorway from a point where
In the instant case, once having concluded, as we have, that the officer could, pursuant to the warrant, properly station himself at defendant’s doorway even though the warrant was not in his physical possession, we reach the inevitable conclusion it was reasonable for him to make the visual search when the door was opened and that such viewing is not prohibited by the constitution.
Inasmuch as the majority of the court concludes that the police conduct in this case was not unreasonable, we do not reach the question which concurring members of this court believe ought to be decided herein. The question of whether a police officer armed with an arrest warrant, in all or any circumstances, may resort to a ruse or misrepresentation of identity and purpose to facilitate the arrest is reserved for future consideration.
After defendant Schill was arrested on the narcotics charge without a warrant he was taken to the jail and booked, and the following day Officer Monreal swore out a complaint before an assistant district attorney. There is no evidence that a warrant on the narcotics charge was ever issued by an impartial magistrate.
The defendant relies upon State ex rel. White v. Simpson (1965), 28 Wis. 2d 590, 137 N. W. 2d 391. We conclude, however, that defendant’s reliance upon State ex rel. White v. Simpson is misplaced in the
“If the defendant has previously been validly arrested without warrant and is still in custody, no summons or warrant is required and the defendant may be brought before a judge of the county court with a complaint subscribed and sworn to before either the district attorney or a magistrate.”
This statute recognizes the superfluity of issuing a warrant when the arrest has already been executed. It is true, of course, that State ex rel. Cullen v. Ceci (1970), 45 Wis. 2d 432, 173 N. W. 2d 175, holds that a complaint must state facts constituting probable cause to hold the defendant. We also stated therein that it is a jurisdictional requirement for holding a preliminary examination. In the instant case this jurisdictional re
By the Court. — Judgment and order affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Schill, Plaintiff in Error, v. State, Defendant in Error
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- 4 cases
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- Published