Commonwealth v. Wilmer

194 A.3d 564

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania, Appellee

v.Ashley Lauren WILMER, Appellant

No. 40 MAP 2017

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued: May 15, 2018

Decided: September 21, 2018

Lawrence Jonathan Goode, Esq., Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, Amicus Curiae.

Leonard Sosnov, Esq., Defender Association of Philadelphia, Defender Association of Philadelphia, Amicus Curiae.

Bradley Adam Winnick, Esq., Dauphin County Public Defender's Office, Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Amicus Curiae.

Michael Halkias, Esq., Cumberland County Public Defender's Office, Joshua Merrill Yohe, Esq., for Appellant.

Merle L. Ebert Jr., Esq., Matthew Peter Smith, Esq., Cumberland County District Attorney's Office, Courtney Ellen Hair, Esq., Charles John Volkert Jr., Esq., for Appellee.

SAYLOR, C.J., BAER, TODD, DONOHUE, DOUGHERTY, WECHT, MUNDY, JJ.

OPINION

JUSTICE DONOHUE

Absent a recognized exception, under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution¹ it is axiomatic that a law enforcement officer may not make a warrantless entry into a private dwelling. One such exception to the warrant requirement is the "emergency aid exception," which this Court has characterized as belonging to a broader group of exceptions justified by the "community caretaking doctrine." Commonwealth v. Livingstone , ––– Pa. ––––, 174 A.3d 609, 627 (2017). Pursuant to the community caretaking doctrine, certain warrantless actions of police officers do not offend constitutional principles because they are motivated by a "desire to render aid or assistance, rather than the investigation of criminal activity." Id. at 627. In this discretionary appeal, we consider whether a police officer who properly entered a residence to render emergency aid could, after the emergency had passed, thereafter reenter the dwelling to perform administrative tasks in follow-up to the emergency entrance. For the following reasons, we conclude that the emergency aid exception did not permit reentry after the emergency had dissipated

On October 27, 2013, while on foot patrol in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania State Troopers Smolleck and Shoap (the "Troopers") observed a number of people on the roof of a sorority house's porch. N.T., 7/6/2015, at 7. One of these people, a young man, appeared to be visibly intoxicated and unsteadily stumbling around on the roof. Id. at 8. The Troopers feared that this individual would fall off the roof and injure himself, and so they approached the front door and sought permission to enter, but the occupants refused their requests. Id. at 8-10. Trooper Shoap tried, unsuccessfully, to kick the door open, and those inside laughed at his inability to do so. Id. at 10. He then kicked through the window next to the door and reached in and unlocked it. Id. at 11. The Troopers called fire, EMS, and the Shippensburg Borough Police to the scene to assist in the matter. Id. at 9. To gain access to the roof on the second floor, the Troopers removed an air conditioning unit from a window, potentially damaging it. Id. at 11. By the time the Troopers gained access to the roof, the young man had fallen and was being treated by first responders on the ground. Id. at 12.

As the Troopers exited the house, Trooper Smolleck saw a bag of marijuana and a marijuana grinder on a coffee table, which he seized and took to his patrol vehicle.² Id. at 11. Trooper Smolleck testified that he then reentered the sorority house to obtain information to complete a report that he intended to file regarding the broken window and air conditioner. Id. at 13. Upon reentry, he knocked on a closed bedroom door. Id. at 14. The door opened, and Appellant Ashley Wilmer ("Wilmer") raised her hand when Trooper Smolleck asked the six young women inside if any of them were residents of the house. Id. at 14. While Wilmer was providing Trooper Smolleck with her name and other requested information, he observed a glass marijuana bong and a pipe sitting in plain view on a nightstand next to Wilmer. Id. at 15. Wilmer admitted that the items belonged to her and she was subsequently charged with one count of possession of drug paraphernalia, 35 P.S. § 780-113(a)(32).

On May 15, 2015, Wilmer filed a motion to suppress the evidence, challenging the lawfulness of the Troopers' initial entry and Trooper Smolleck's reentry into the sorority house without consent, a warrant, or probable cause and exigent circumstances. Following the hearing, the trial court denied Wilmer's motion to suppress. N.T., 7/6/2015, at 35. In its subsequent written opinion pursuant to Rule 1925(a) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure, the trial court concluded that the Troopers' original entry was justified by their "good faith belief that the young man was in imminent danger of injury or death[,]" and that Trooper Smolleck's reentry into the home was justified by "the exigent circumstances that gave rise to the original entry." Trial Court Opinion, 4/19/2016, at 4. The trial court further reasoned that because the damage was caused in the course of the initial entry, a second entry was needed "to establish the identity of the residents of the house to file an incident report." Id. Because Trooper Smolleck was lawfully present in the residence when he observed the drug paraphernalia in plain view, the trial court determined that the evidence was not subject to suppression. Id. On February 16, 2016, Wilmer's case proceeded to a stipulated nonjury trial, at which the trial court found Wilmer guilty and sentenced her to pay the costs of prosecution and a fifty dollar fine.

On appeal to the Superior Court, Wilmer again challenged the legality of both the Troopers' initial entry and Trooper Smolleck's reentry into the house. Concerning the initial entry, Wilmer asserted "there was no evidence that the [intoxicated] individual actually needed emergency aid or that he requested assistance from the Troopers." Commonwealth v. Wilmer , 296 MDA 2016 at 4-5, 2016 WL 7048810 (Pa. Super. Dec. 5, 2016) (unpublished memorandum). The Superior Court rejected this argument, stating that "police will be excused from compliance with the warrant and probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment ... when the police reasonably believe that someone within a residence is in need of immediate aid." Id. at 5-6 (citing Commonwealth v. Potts , 73 A.3d 1275, 1280-81 (Pa. Super. 2013) ). The panel concluded that "[i]n light of the totality of the circumstances, [the initial] police entry to the sorority house was reasonable under the circumstances." Id. at 8.

With respect to Trooper Smolleck's reentry of the sorority house, the Superior Court affirmed the trial court's denial of suppression on the grounds that it was "entirely reasonable" for Trooper Smolleck to reenter to obtain information for his incident report and because Trooper Smolleck's reentry was "merely part of one continuous episode, initially justified by exigent circumstances." Id. at 10. The Superior Court explained that "when police are properly authorized to enter a dwelling under the exigent circumstances doctrine,³ they are also authorized to return to complete the necessary paperwork required by the emergency situation that allowed them to enter the building in the first place." Id. The Superior Court further stated that "there is no ... rule that prohibits an officer, legitimately on the premises, from returning to the residence to perform the police functions which are then immediately justified and required." Id. Finally, the court observed that as to the reentry, "[t]here was no unwarranted delay in time, nor was there any purposeful search," but rather, "[t]he items taken into the custody of police were in plain view as the trooper completed his report." Id .

We granted allowance of appeal solely to consider the legality of Trooper Smolleck's reentry into the residence⁴ after the emergency that supported the Troopers' initial entry had dissipated. Our review of an order denying a motion to suppress is limited:

We may consider only the Commonwealth's evidence and so much of the evidence for the defense as remains uncontradicted when read in the context of the record as a whole. Where the record supports the factual findings of the trial court, we are bound by those facts and may reverse only if the legal conclusions drawn therefrom are in error.

Commonwealth v. Russo, 594 Pa. 119, 934 A.2d 1199, 1203 (2007) (citations omitted). As an appellate court, we are not bound by the suppression court's conclusions of law; rather, when reviewing questions of law, our standard of review is de novo and our scope of review is plenary. Id.

The Fourth Amendment provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable search and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

U.S. Const. amend. IV.

Under the Fourth Amendment, "searches and seizures without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable," subject only to specifically established exceptions. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 357, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967) ; Birchfield v. North Dakota , ––– U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 2160, 2173, 195 L.Ed.2d 560 (2016) ; Arizona v. Hicks , 480 U.S. 321, 327, 107 S.Ct. 1149, 94 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987) ; Commonwealth v. Roland , 535 Pa. 595, 637 A.2d 269, 270 (1994). These exceptions include, inter alia , exigent circumstances,⁵ the "plain view" exception,⁶ searches incident to arrest,⁷ consent searches,⁸ and automobile searches.⁹ A police officer may also briefly detain a person without a warrant or probable cause, so long as the officer possesses a reasonable suspicion that the individual is or is about to be engaged in criminal activity. United States v. Cortez , 449 U.S. 411, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66...