9th Cir.: Misdemeanor FTA bench warrant permits entry to arrest

“Consistent with the decisions of other federal courts to consider the issue, we hold that police possessing a valid bench warrant for the arrest of a person who has failed to appear may enter that person’s residence to the extent necessary to execute the warrant” even for a misdemeanor under Payton. United States v. Gooch, 506 F.3d 1156 (9th Cir. 2007):

The Ninth Circuit has not previously had occasion to decide whether a misdemeanor bench warrant for failure to appear–as opposed to a felony arrest warrant–is sufficient to permit entry into a residence under Payton. The Second Circuit, however, in United States v. Spencer persuasively reasoned that the Court’s decision in Payton permits entry into a residence to effectuate a valid arrest warrant, regardless of the precise nature of the underlying warrant. 684 F.2d 220, 223 (2d Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1109, 103 S. Ct. 738, 74 L. Ed. 2d 960 (1983). Rejecting an argument identical to the one that Gooch makes here–that a misdemeanor bench warrant not premised on a formal finding of probable cause does not lie within Payton‘s reach–the Second Circuit explained:

The decision of the New York City Criminal Court Judge to issue a bench warrant constituted a finding made by a neutral magistrate that [the defendant] had failed to appear in a pending criminal matter. We recognize that its issuance did not amount to a judicial finding of probable cause to arrest in the traditional sense …. Nonetheless, the police, armed with the warrant, had authority to find and seize [the defendant] anywhere they could find him for his failure to appear in court. Thus, the presence of the police in the defendant’s room was pursuant to a direction made by a neutral magistrate. Defendant’s rights under the Fourth Amendment require no more.

684 F.2d at 223 (citing Payton, 445 U.S. at 582 n.17, 586 n.24); see also id. at 223-24 (“[T]he courts, in striving to safeguard a suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights when he is arrested at home, emphasized the necessity that a warrant be issued by a neutral magistrate. . . . In determining reasonableness, the nature of the underlying offense is of no moment.”).FN1

1. The holding in Spencer, permitting entry into a residence based on a misdemeanor arrest warrant or a bench warrant for failure to appear, has been followed in similar cases with near uniformity by the federal courts. See Shreve v. Jessamine County Fiscal Court, 453 F.3d 681, 689 (6th Cir. 2006); United States v. Clayton, 210 F.3d 841, 843-44 (8th Cir. 2000); Cogswell v. County of Suffolk Deputy Sheriff’s Dept., 375 F. Supp. 2d 182, 187-88 (E.D.N.Y. 2005); United States v. Ray, 199 F. Supp. 2d 1104, 1112-13 (D. Kan. 2002); Smith v. Tolley, 960 F. Supp. 977, 991-92 (E.D. Va. 1997); Heine v. Connelly, 644 F. Supp. 1508, 1514-15 (D. Del. 1986).

We find the reasoning of Spencer persuasive, and affirm the district court’s denial of Gooch’s motion to suppress. We hold that a valid arrest warrant issued by a neutral magistrate judge, including a properly issued bench warrant for failure to appear, carries with it the limited authority to enter a residence in order to effectuate the arrest as provided for under Payton. The Fourth Amendment presumption against warrantless entries into the home is designed to protect privacy interests against uncabined police discretion. Payton, 445 U.S. at 586 (“[W]e have long adhered to the view that the warrant procedure minimizes the danger of needless intrusions [into the home].”). Those interests are sufficiently safeguarded when an entry is premised on the execution of a valid arrest warrant issued by a judge or magistrate, regardless of whether that warrant is for a felony, a misdemeanor, or simply a bench warrant for failure to appear. Here, the police held a valid warrant for Conn’s arrest, a warrant that bore the confirmed address of the residence police entered after following Conn. The entry and subsequent search for Conn were reasonable and permissible under Payton and the Fourth Amendment.