(This syllabus is not part of the opinion of the Court. It has been prepared by the Office of the Clerk for
the convenience of the reader. It has been neither reviewed nor approved by the Supreme Court. Please
note that, in the interests of brevity, portions of any opinion may not have been summarized).
Argued October 10, 1995 -- Decided December 13, 1995
GARIBALDI, J., writing for the Court.
The issue on appeal is whether it was reasonable, under the Fourth Amendment of the United
States Constitution and Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, for a police officer, following
the fleeing subject of an outstanding arrest warrant, to enter a private residence using force if the officer did
not know the nature of the underlying offense.
On the evening of October 15, 1989, Peter Katsihtis parked his car in the parking lot of the Stony
Hill Inn. The next morning, Katsihtis found the car broken into and certain items stolen. He reported the
theft to the Hackensack Police.
On October 18, 1989, Sergeants Michael Mordaga and Robert Wright of the Hackensack Police
Department's Narcotics Street Crime Unit were conducting a surveillance when they observed a vehicle
containing Jones and Lonzie Collier pull into a parking lot. Officer Mordaga recognized Collier and
remembered having seen an outstanding warrant for his arrest earlier that evening. At that time, Mordaga
did not know the offenses underlying the issuance of the warrant. The officers later learned that the warrant
was issued for Collier's failure to pay certain fines.
When the officers approached Collier and Jones, they fled. The record is unclear whether the
officers informed Collier that they had a warrant for his arrest before the men ran away. Mordaga and
Wright chased Collier and Jones as they entered an apartment building, ran up the stairs, and entered
apartment 312. The officers tried to open the apartment door, found it locked and kicked it down. The
record is also unclear as to whether the officers knocked and announced their presence before breaking
down the door. Inside the door was a kitchen table on which the officers observed, and later seized, various
narcotics paraphernalia and documents, including items belonging to Katsihtis. Collier and Jones were
arrested and taken into custody. At the police station, Jones agreed to cooperate with the police. He made
statements implicating himself and Collier in other crimes. The next morning, Jones also gave a statement to
another detective regarding his and Collier's participation in the Katsihtis robbery.
Jones was indicted on charges of first degree robbery, burglary, possession of heroin, and receiving
stolen property. Prior to trial, Jones moved to suppress the physical evidence seized from the apartment and
the oral statements that he gave to the police after being taken into custody. Jones also moved to have
certain counts severed for trial. The trial court denied the motion to suppress, concluding that the entry into
the apartment was lawful and that the officers could have seized, pursuant to the arrest warrant, any
contraband that they had observed on the kitchen table. The trial court granted Jones's motion to sever
various counts of the indictment.
Jones stood trial only on the Katsihtis burglary charge. He was found guilty by a jury. Jones appealed his conviction to the Appellate Division, which reversed and remanded, finding that the physical evidence obtained at the apartment and Jones's subsequent inculpatory statements should have been suppressed because the officers impermissibly broke into apartment 312 and, therefore, the evidence seized therein was the result of an unreasonable search and seizure. The Appellate Division relied on State v. Bolte, in which this Court held that it was unreasonable for a police officer, in hot pursuit of a person suspected of numerous motor vehicle and disorderly persons offenses, to make a warrantless entry into the
suspect's home to effect an arrest. The Appellate Division reasoned that if an arrest for numerous motor
vehicle and disorderly persons violations committed in the officer's presence did not justify invading the
sanctity of a private home, then the execution of an arrest warrant issued for similar minor offenses would
not validate such an invasion. The panel also held that the officers, prior to entering the private residence,
should have inquired as to the basis for the outstanding warrant at the time they tried to execute it.
The Supreme Court granted the State's petition for certification.
HELD: Under the totality of the circumstances in this case, the police officers acted in an objectively
reasonable manner under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey
Constitution when they followed co-defendant Lonzie Collier, the fleeing subject of a valid arrest
warrant, into his apartment.
1. The requirement that police obtain a warrant safeguards citizens by placing the determination of probable
cause in the hands of a neutral magistrate before an arrest or search is authorized. Under the Fourth
Amendment, police have the right to execute an arrest warrant on a defendant at his or her home and they
may enter the home to search for the defendant when there is probable cause to believe that the defendant
is there. (pp. 8-10)
2. Under statutory and decisional law, the officers had a right, and a duty, to effect the arrest of Collier by
entering the apartment. They were acting under a validly issued arrest warrant and were following Collier
into an apartment building in hot pursuit. Whether Collier's fleeing made it impossible for him to hear one
of the officers state that he had a warrant for his arrest makes no difference. (pp. 10-12)
3. The Appellate Division failed to comprehend the distinction between the entry here pursuant to a warrant
and the warrantless entries in Bolte and Welsh v. Wisconsin. Here, the officers were making an in-home
arrest, albeit for a minor offense, pursuant to a valid arrest warrant issued on probable cause by a neutral
and detached magistrate. (pp. 12-13)
4. Because of the volume of outstanding warrants, police officers rarely know the underlying offense on
which the arrest warrant is issued. The distinction suggested by the Appellate Division between minor
offenses and serious offenses is unreasonable and impractical. To require that police know the offenses
underlying every warrant, and then whether or not a given offense is a minor one, unjustifiably interferes
with the ability of police to arrest individuals wanted on outstanding warrants. Law enforcement officers
have a duty to enforce validly issued arrest warrants without distinction, whether they were issued for minor
or serious offenses. As long as the officers acted reasonably in executing the warrant, as they did here, then
the arrest and the evidence seized incident to the arrest should be admitted into evidence. (pp. 13-16)
5. In the recent U.S. Supreme Court's decision Wilson v. Arkansas, it was left to the discretion of the lower
courts to determine the circumstances under which an unannounced entry is reasonable under the Fourth
Amendment. Here, it was not necessary for Mordaga and Wright to announce their presence and purpose
prior to entry because the suspects knew the officers were chasing them, and fled into the private apartment
to avoid arrest. Furthermore, the officers knew that both Jones and Collier had been convicted previously of
drug offenses; evidence of drug use or drug distribution is easily destroyed. (pp. 16-18)
6. Generally, officers are required to inform a defendant of the offense charged and of the fact that the
warrant has been issued. It was reasonable under the circumstances of this case to dispense with the
requirement that the officers inform Collier of the offense charged. In other circumstances, a forceful entry
to execute an arrest warrant may not be reasonable. The main test is whether the law enforcement officer
acted in an objectively reasonable manner. (pp. 18-19)
Judgment of the Appellate Division is REVERSED and Jones's conviction is REINSTATED.
CHIEF JUSTICE WILENTZ and JUSTICES HANDLER, POLLOCK, O'HERN, STEIN and
COLEMAN join in JUSTICE GARIBALDI'S opinion.
SUPREME COURT OF NEW JERSEY
A-
28 September Term l995
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
LEO R. JONES,
Defendant-Respondent.
Argued October 10, l995 -- Decided December 13, 1995
On certification to the Superior Court,
Appellate Division, whose opinion is reported
at
277 N.J. Super. 113 (1994).
John J. Scaliti, Acting Assistant Prosecutor,
argued the cause for appellant (Charles R.
Buckley, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor,
attorney).
Steven M. Gilson, Designated Counsel, argued
the cause for respondent (Susan Reisner,
Public Defender, attorney).
Nancy Peremes Barton, Deputy Attorney
General, argued the cause for amicus curiae,
Attorney General of New Jersey (Deborah T.
Poritz, Attorney General, attorney).
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
GARIBALDI, J.
In this appeal, the issue is whether it was reasonable,
under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and
Article l, paragraph 7 of the New Jersey Constitution, for a
police officer, following the fleeing subject of an outstanding
arrest warrant, to enter a private residence using force if the
officer did not know the offense underlying the warrant.
On the evening of October l5, l989, Peter Katsihtis parked his Mazda MX6 in the parking lot of the Stony Hill Inn, which was located across the street from his residence. Katsihtis had been given permission to park there. The next morning, Katsihtis found that the car had been broken into and that his wallet, driver's license, registration, social security card, cassette tapes, and floor mats had been stolen. He reported the theft to the Hackensack Police.
Two days later, on October l8, l989, Sergeants Michael Mordaga and Robert Wright of the Hackensack Police Department's Narcotics Street Crime Unit were conducting a surveillance near an apartment complex located at 370 Park Street. The police surveillance was unrelated to defendant. During the surveillance, the officers observed a vehicle containing defendant and a companion, Lonzie Collier, pull into the parking lot. Mordaga recognized Collier from previous encounters and also remembered having seen an outstanding warrant for his arrest earlier that evening. At that time, Mordaga did not know the
offenses underlying the issuance of the warrant. Subsequently,
he learned that the warrant was issued for Collier's failure to
pay fines assessed for two prior convictions of possession of
narcotics paraphernalia.
On seeing Collier, the police officers exited their vehicle
and approached Collier and defendant. The defendant and Collier
fled. The record is unclear about whether the officers informed
Collier that they had a warrant for his arrest before the men ran
away. At the pretrial suppression hearing, it appeared that
Collier and defendant fled before the officers had an opportunity
to inform Collier that they had a warrant for his arrest.
Alternatively, Collier and defendant may have been too far away
to have heard the officers. At trial, however, Mordaga testified
on cross-examination that he "attempted to get [Collier's]
attention by calling him. I said, `Toot' which is his nickname,
`Toot', we have a warrant for your arrest. He turned. At the
same time he saw us approaching and he ran." Indeed, in
defendant's brief to the Appellate Division, he confirmed that
Mordaga made that statement. However, in his brief to this
Court, defendant asserted that the two men had run before Mordaga
told them he had a warrant for Collier's arrest.
Both Collier and defendant knew that Mordaga and Wright were
police officers. It is also undisputed that both Collier and
defendant fled either on seeing the officers or on being informed
that the police had a warrant for Collier's arrest. Mordaga and
Wright gave chase. Defendant and Collier entered the apartment
building with the two police officers not far behind. Collier
and defendant ran up the stairs and quickly entered apartment
3l2. Mordaga and Wright followed them.
The facts establish that the police tried the door, found it
locked, and kicked it down. The record is unclear as to whether
the officers knocked and announced their presence at the
apartment before breaking down the door. At the suppression
hearing, the officers were not questioned on whether they had
knocked and announced their presence. However, at trial Mordaga
testified on cross-examination that he knocked and asked for
entrance before kicking in the door.
Mordaga testified that immediately inside the door was a
kitchen table, upon which were strewn various narcotics
paraphernalia and paper documents, all of which the officers
seized. The papers included Peter Katsihtis's driver's license,
social security card, bank card, and vehicle registration. The
officers also observed and seized a crowbar, which was wrapped in
newspaper. The police arrested Collier and defendant, read them
their Miranda rights, and then took them to the police station.
On his arrival at police headquarters, defendant expressed a
willingness to cooperate with the police. Defendant implicated
himself and Collier in several crimes in which defendant had been
the driver of the get-away car. Mordaga re-informed defendant of
his Miranda rights, but he did not interrogate defendant because
the crimes were not narcotics related. The next morning
Detective Krakowski of General Investigations was summoned to
follow-up with defendant. After informing defendant of his
Miranda rights, which defendant waived in a signed release,
Krakowski took a statement from defendant relating to the robbery
of a car at the Stony Hill Inn on October l5. Defendant told the
police officer that he had been driving with Collier when Collier
instructed him to pull into the parking lot at the Stony Hill
Inn. Collier got out of defendant's car and went over to a Mazda
MX6 parked in the lot. After Collier tried unsuccessfully to pry
open the trunk, he broke the passenger's side window instead.
Defendant told police that Collier said there was nothing of
value in the vehicle.
Defendant was indicted on charges of first degree robbery, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:l5-l (count one); burglary, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:l8-2 (count two); possession of heroin, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:35-l0a(l) (count three); and receiving stolen property, contrary to N.J.S.A. 2C:20-7 (count six). The other counts in the indictment related to Lonzie Collier and another co-defendant. Prior to trial, defendant moved to suppress the physical evidence seized from the apartment and the oral statement that he later gave to the police. He also moved to have the counts severed for trial.
The suppression hearing lasted five days. Defendant's
primary argument was that the warrant on which co-defendant
Collier was arrested did not exist and that it was fabricated
after the entry of the apartment and the arrest. In that
connection, defense counsel brought out several inconsistencies
and mistakes in police and municipal court procedures with
respect to the issuance of the warrant. While impressed with
counsel's attempt to disprove the validity of the arrest warrant,
the trial court stated, "I also recognize and take into
consideration all the reasons why these things might have been
suspect, but I can't disbelieve the clerk's testimony that she
signed it [the warrant] on the l8th absent any proof to the
contrary." Ultimately, the trial court concluded that "the entry
into the premises was lawful and they could seize, pursuant to
that warrant, any contraband that they observed on the kitchen
table and they did that." Accordingly, the trial court denied
the motion to suppress and admitted the items seized from the
apartment and the statements made by defendant after he was taken
into custody. The trial court, however, granted defendant's
motion to sever various counts of the indictment.
Defendant stood trial only on count two, the Katsihtis
burglary charge. The defendant did not testify on his own
behalf, nor did he call any witnesses. The jury found him
guilty. Defendant appealed to the Appellate Division, and the
panel reversed and remanded.
277 N.J. Super. 113, 122 (1994).
The panel concluded that the physical evidence obtained at the
apartment and the defendant's subsequent inculpatory statements
should have been suppressed. Ibid.
The Appellate Division observed that the case was governed
by State v. Bolte, ll
5 N.J. 579, cert. denied,
493 U.S. 936, ll
0 S. Ct. 330, l
07 L. Ed.2d 320 (l989). Id. at ll9-20. In Bolte,
this Court held that it was unreasonable for a police officer, in
"hot pursuit" of a person suspected of numerous motor vehicle and
disorderly persons offenses, to make a warrantless entry into a
suspect's home to effect an arrest. Bolte, supra, 115 N.J. at
580-81. Although the officer in Bolte was in "hot pursuit," this
Court found lacking the exigent circumstances needed to validate
the warrantless entry of the individual's home. Id. at 597-98.
Although acknowledging that the officers were attempting to
execute the outstanding arrest warrant on Collier when Collier
and defendant fled into the apartment, the Appellate Division,
relying on Bolte, supra, stated that "[i]f arrest for numerous
motor vehicle and disorderly persons violations committed in the
officer's presence does not justify invading the sanctity of a
private home, it follows that execution of an arrest warrant
issued for similar minor offenses would invalidate such an
invasion." Jones, supra, 277 N.J. Super. at l2l. The panel also
noted that the police officers did not know the basis for the
outstanding warrant at the time they tried to execute it:
Not knowing the nature of the warrant, in our
view, places the pursuing officer in the same
situation as in Bolte. The presumption must
be that the warrant is for a minor offense in
the absence of evidence to the contrary. To
reach any other conclusion would be to allow
the police to circumvent the constitutional
sensitivity toward the sanctity of private
dwellings by simply choosing not to ascertain
the nature of an outstanding warrant.
Requiring that the police make such an
inquiry prior to invading a private home is
an essential safeguard.
The Appellate Division concluded that the officers impermissibly
broke into apartment 3l2 and that the evidence seized therein was
the result of an unreasonable search and seizure. Defendant's
conviction was reversed.
We granted the State's petition for certification, ___ N.J.
___ (l995), and now reverse.
The Fourth Amendment states:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches 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.
New Jersey's constitution provides similarly. See, N.J. Const.
art. I, ¶ 7 (mirroring federal requirement).
"[T]he `physical entry of the home is the chief evil against
which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.'" Payton
v. New York,
445 U.S. 573, 585, l00 S. Ct. l37l, ___, 63 L. Ed.
2d 639, 650 (l980) (quoting United States v. United States
District Court,
407 U.S. 297, 3l3,
92 S. Ct. 2l25, ___,
32 L.
Ed.2d 752, 764 (l972)). It is a "basic principle of Fourth
Amendment law that searches and seizures inside a man's house
without a warrant are per se unreasonable. . . ." Coolidge v.
New Hampshire,
403 U.S. 443, 477-78, 9l S. Ct. 2022, ___,
29 L.
Ed.2d 564, 589-90 (l970); see also State v. Henry, l33 N.J. l04,
ll0 (l993), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, ll
4 S. Ct. 486, l
26 L.
Ed.2d 436 (l994) (same) (quoting Payton, supra, 445 U.S. at 586,
l00 S. Ct. at ___, 63 L. Ed.
2d at 65l).
Courts have always emphasized the distinction between a
warrantless search and a search pursuant to a warrant. The
requirement that police obtain a warrant "safeguards citizens by
placing the determination of probable cause in the hands of a
neutral magistrate before an arrest or search is authorized."
Henry, supra, l33 N.J. at ll0. A police officer therefore with a
valid arrest warrant "has the right to execute the warrant by
arresting a defendant at his or her home." State v. Bruzzese,
94 N.J. 2l0, 228-29 (l983) cert. denied,
465 U.S. 1030,
104 S. Ct. 1295,
79 L. Ed.2d 695 (1984) (citation omitted). As the Supreme
Court explained: "For Fourth Amendment purposes, an arrest
warrant founded on probable cause implicitly carries with it the
limited authority to enter a dwelling in which the suspect lives
when there is reason to believe the suspect is within." Payton,
supra, 445 U.S. at 603, l0l S. Ct. at ___, 63 L. Ed.
2d at 661.
Thus, the police have the right to execute an arrest warrant on a
defendant at his or her home, and they may enter the home to
search for the defendant when there is probable cause to believe
that he or she is there.
Warrants are issued pursuant to Rule 3:3-l. The issuance of a warrant does more than simply place a duty on the police to execute it; its issuance suggests that the sought-after suspect may be wanted for a grave offense or that the suspect has ignored less intrusive process. Subsection (b) of Rule 3:3-1, in pertinent part, provides:
(b) Determination Whether to Issue a Summons or Warrant. A summons rather than an arrest warrant shall issue unless the judge, clerk or deputy clerk, municipal court administrator or deputy court administrator finds:
. . . .
(2) The defendant has failed to respond to a
summons;
. . . .
(4) There is an outstanding arrest warrant
for the defendant; [or]
. . . .
(6) The judge, clerk or deputy clerk,
municipal court administrator or deputy court
administrator has reason to believe that the
defendant will not appear in response to a
summons. A summons rather than an arrest
warrant shall issue if the defendant is a
corporation.
In this case, a warrant, rather than a summons, was issued
because co-defendant Collier had previously failed to respond to
an earlier summons and because he had a prior arrest warrant
outstanding against him. A neutral and detached magistrate made
the determination that a warrant, rather than a simple summons,
should issue for Collier's arrest. It was on the basis of that
arrest warrant that the police officers in this case acted.
"Once a warrant is issued, or probable cause comes into
existence, it becomes an officer's duty to arrest the
suspect. . . ." Smith v. Gonzales,
670 F.2d 522, 527 (5th Cir.
l982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. l005, l
03 S. Ct. 36l,
74 L. Ed.2d 397 (l982). "Officers have no discretion in making arrests where
there is an outstanding warrant." Stone v. State,
620 So.2d 200,
201 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. l993) (citing McCrey v. State,
496 So.2d 9l9 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. l986)). In fact, had the officers
failed to attempt to effectuate the warrant, they would have been
derelict in their duties. Rule 3:3-3(b) states that "[t]he
warrant may be executed and the summons served at any place
within this State." (emphasis added).
Accordingly, under both statutory and decisional law, the
officers had a right to effect the arrest of co-defendant Collier
by entering the apartment. The officers were acting under a
validly issued arrest warrant. Collier fled into an apartment
building. The officers followed in hot pursuit. They observed
defendant and Collier run into apartment 3l2. Whether Collier's
fleeing made it impossible for him to hear Mordaga state that he
had a warrant for his arrest makes no difference. A suspect
named in a warrant who makes it impossible for the police to tell
him that there is an outstanding arrest warrant should not
benefit from the officer's inability to inform him of that
warrant.
The Appellate Division failed to comprehend the distinction
between the entry here pursuant to a warrant and the warrantless
entries in Bolte, supra, and Welsh v. Wisconsin,
466 U.S. 740,
l
04 S. Ct. 209l,
80 L. Ed.2d 732 (l984). Jones, supra, 277 N.J.
Super. at l20. In Welsh, supra, a witness observed the defendant
commit several motor vehicle and disorderly persons offenses.
466 U.S. at 742, l04 S. Ct. at ___, 80 L. Ed.
2d at 738. Another
passerby called the police and relayed the story. Ibid. Without
securing a warrant, a police officer entered the defendant's home
and arrested him. Ibid. The United States Supreme Court found
that that warrantless entry was unreasonable, noting that "[w]hen
the government's interest is only to arrest for a minor offense,
that presumption of unreasonableness is difficult to rebut, and
the government usually should be allowed to make such arrests
only with a warrant issued upon probable cause by a neutral and
detached magistrate." Id. at 750, l04 S. Ct. at ___, 80 L. Ed.
2d at 743 (footnote omitted) (emphasis added). In contrast, the
officers in this case were making an in-home arrest, albeit for a
minor offense, pursuant to a valid warrant issued upon probable
cause by a neutral and detached magistrate.
The valid arrest warrant provided a "limited authority to
enter a dwelling" in which Collier lived when there was
reasonable grounds to believe he was there. See Payton v. New
York, supra, 445 U.S. at 602-03, l00 S. Ct. at ___, 63 L. Ed.
2d
at 660-61. Aware of the warrant for Collier's arrest, the
officers had both the right and the duty to follow him into the
apartment. See United States v. Santana,
427 U.S. 38,
96 S. Ct. 2406,
49 L. Ed.2d 38 (l976) (approving entry of private home
when warrantless arrest commenced outside and suspect fled into
private home in effort to avoid arrest); Allen v. Wrightson, 800
F. Supp. l235, l238 (D.N.J. l992) (finding that law enforcement
officers properly forced entry of plaintiff's home to arrest on
New York warrant for violation of probation); Edwards v. United
States,
364 A.2d 1209 (D.C. App. 1976), reh'g en banc,
379 A.2d 976 (D.C. App. 1977) (finding that police were not required to
"shrug [their] shoulders and allow a crime to occur or a criminal
to escape," when a suspect attempting to evade a valid
investigatory stop fled into a private home) (citations omitted);
People v. Land,
604 N.Y.S 2d l46 (App. Div. l993), leave to
appeal denied, 6l
0 N.Y.S 2d l78 (l994) (holding that police
properly followed defendant into home after initiating arrest on
front stoop).
The Appellate Division's holding that police officers may not chase fleeing suspects into private residences unless armed with a warrant for a non-minor offense creates an unworkable and unreasonable standard. The panel's determination that "[t]he presumption must be that the warrant is for a minor offense in the absence of evidence to the contrary," Jones, supra, 277 N.J. Super. at l2l, hamstrings police officers, encourages flight, and neglects the role of the magistrate.
Amicus curiae, the Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, and the Bergen County Prosecutor observe that because of the volume of outstanding warrants, police officers rarely know the underlying offense on which the arrest warrant is issued. Officers simply know that a warrant exists for a certain individual and that it is their duty to arrest that person when they see him or her. At trial, the Court was advised that over l,000 warrants for contempt of court alone are issued by the Municipal Court of Hackensack each year. While law enforcement officers may reasonably be expected to remember that an arrest warrant was issued for a person to expect them to remember, for days and perhaps months, the underlying offense for numerous warrants is unreasonable.
Moreover, the distinction between minor offenses and serious offenses is impractical and would be difficult to enforce. It
would necessitate a case-by-case evaluation of the seriousness of
each crime. Welsh v. Wisconsin, supra, 466 U.S. at l6l, l04 S.
Ct. at ___, 80 L. Ed.
2d at 750-51 (White, J., dissenting). The
officer would have to delay apprehension of the suspect to
ascertain from headquarters the offense underlying the warrant.
Then, the officer would have to assess in the field whether the
offense is serious enough to justify home entry. The Appellate
Division's holding offers no guidance on what is a minor offense.
As the Court noted in Welsh, supra,
[t]here may have been a time when the line
between misdemeanors and felonies marked off
those offenses involving a sufficiently
serious threat to society to justify
warrantless in-home arrests under exigent
circumstances. But the category of
misdemeanors today includes enough serious
offenses to call into question the
desirability of such line drawing. See ALI,
Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedures l3l-l32 (Prelim Draft No. l, l965) (discussing
ultimately rejected provision abandoning "in-presence" requirement for misdemeanor
arrests).
In view of the significance that attaches to the issuance of a warrant and the fact that "every arrest, regardless of the nature of the offense [may] present a risk of danger to an officer," State v. Bruzzese, supra, 94 N.J. at 233, to require police officers to distinguish between arrest warrants issued for minor and serious offenses would be unreasonable. Furthermore, to require that police know the offenses underlying every warrant, and then whether or not a given offense is a "minor"
one, unjustifiably interferes with the execution of a principal
and traditional police function, namely to arrest individuals
wanted on outstanding warrants. As the United States Supreme
Court has stated, "We would hesitate to declare a police practice
of long standing `unreasonable' if doing so would severely hamper
effective law enforcement." Tennessee v. Garner, 47l U.S. l, l9,
l05 S. Ct. l694, ___,
85 L. Ed 2d l, l4 (l985).
The magistrate has the duty and neutrality to determine
whether a warrant or a summons should be issued. If the
magistrate determines that a warrant should issue, his or her
decision should not be second-guessed by the police officer. Law
enforcement officers have a duty to enforce validly issued arrest
warrants without distinction, whether they were issued for minor
or serious offenses. As long as the officers acted reasonably in
executing the warrant, as they did here, then the arrest and any
evidence seized incident to the arrest should be admitted.
If Mordaga did not knock and announce at the door, his failure to adhere strictly to the common-law "knock and announce" requirement is obviated by the United States Supreme Court's recent decision in Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. __, 115 S. Ct. 1914, 131 L. Ed.2d 976 (1995). In that case, the defendant was arrested when the police, acting pursuant to valid search and arrest warrants, let themselves into her home through an open screen door. Id. at ___, 115 S. Ct. at ___, 131 L. Ed 2d at
979. The police failed to knock and announce their purpose.
Ibid. The Supreme Court reviewed the history and development of
Fourth Amendment principles, tracing them back through the
common-law to the seminal decision in Semayne's Case,
5 Co. Rep. 9la, 91b 77 Eng. Rep. l94, 195 (K.B. l603), which had its origins
in an English statute enacted in l275 (referring to l Edw., ch.
l7, in l Statutes at Large from Magna Carta to Hen. 6 (O.
Ruffhead ed. l769)). Ibid. While not explicitly adopting any of
the exceptions to the knock-and-announce requirement, such as the
"useless gesture" exception, see Ker v. California,
374 U.S. 23,
83 S. Ct. l623, l
0 L. Ed.2d 726 (l963), the Court left it to the
lower courts to determine "the circumstances under which an
unannounced entry is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Id.
at ___, 115 S. Ct. at ___, 131 L. Ed.
2d at 984. The Court
simply held "that although a search or seizure of a dwelling
might be constitutionally defective if police officers enter
without prior announcement, law enforcement interests may also
establish the reasonableness of an unannounced entry." Ibid.
Consequently, the case was remanded to the Arkansas Supreme Court
for a determination of the reasonableness of the unannounced
entry. Ibid.
In the present case, the futility of requiring the officers
to announce their presence and purpose prior to entry is obvious:
the suspects knew the police were chasing them, and they fled
into the private apartment to avoid arrest. See, e.g., United
States v. Rambo, 789 F.2d l289 (8th Cir. l986) (noting "knock and
announce" was useless gesture where defendant slammed door on
known police officers). Furthermore, these officers knew that
both defendant and Collier had been convicted previously of drug
offenses. Evidence of drug use or drug distribution is easily
destroyed.
Police officers acting pursuant to a valid arrest warrant have the right to follow a fleeing suspect into a private residence. To require the police officer to know the underlying offense for which the warrant was issued, and then determine whether or not that offense is a minor one, unjustifiably hampers law enforcement and vitiates the role of the issuing magistrate. After this opinion, we do not expect that there will be a flood of police routinely entering residences by force to effectuate arrest warrants for minor matters. Our Court Rules dealing with the execution of a warrant now state that "[i]f the warrant is in possession of the officer at the time of the arrest, the officer shall inform the defendant of the offense charged and of the fact that the warrant has been issued." R. 3:3-3(c). It was reasonable in the circumstances of this case to dispense with the requirement that the police inform the defendant of the offense charged. In other circumstances a forcible entry to execute an arrest warrant may not be
reasonable.See footnote 1 For example, if the police are executing a warrant
at a suspect's home, rather than on a fleeing suspect that they
by chance happen to see on the street, we expect that the police
will present the warrant at a proper hour and will knock and
announce their presence at the suspect's door. The main test
always remains whether the law enforcement officer has acted in
an objectively reasonable manner.
Under the totality of the circumstances here, we find that
the police officers acted in an objectively reasonable manner
under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, paragraph 7 of the New
Jersey Constitution, when they followed Collier, the fleeing
object of the warrant, into the apartment.
The judgment of the Appellate Division is reversed, and
defendant's conviction is reinstated.
CHIEF JUSTICE WILENTZ and JUSTICES HANDLER, POLLOCK, O'HERN,
STEIN and COLEMAN join in JUSTICE GARIBALDI'S opinion.
NO. A-28 SEPTEMBER TERM 1995
ON APPEAL FROM
ON CERTIFICATION TO Appellate Division, Superior Court
STATE OF NEW JERSEY,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
LEO R. JONES,
Defendant-Respondent.
DECIDED December 13, 1995
Chief Justice Wilentz PRESIDING
OPINION BY Justice Garibaldi
CONCURRING OPINION BY
DISSENTING OPINION BY
Footnote: 1In Wilson v. Arkansas, supra, the Court left it to the lower courts to determine "the circumstances under which an unannounced entry is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment." Id. at ___, ll5 S. Ct. at ___, l3l L. Ed. 2d at 984. The New Jersey Supreme Court Criminal Practice Committee should consider whether to recommend any revision in the Rules of Criminal Practice. See, e.g., Rule 3:3-l(b) (furnishing "Guidance on Issuance" of arrest warrants). See also l 8 U.S.C. §3l09 (authorizing forcible entry to execute search warrants and, by implication, arrest warrants, provided the officer has given prior notice of his or her authority and purpose).