AR: Anonymous tip def was in a hotel room was insufficient under Payton for entry on arrest warrant

Defendant was wanted for bank robbery, and the police had an arrest warrant. In a case of first impression, an anonymous tip that defendant was in a hotel room was not enough to base an entry on the arrest warrant under Payton, and all the stuff in the hotel room was suppressible. (The concurring opinion doesn’t like the discussion of Navarette.) However, the evidence of guilt was overwhelming from the numerous eyewitnesses and bank surveillance photographs, including a relative that IDed him as the bank robber. Evans v. State, 2015 Ark. 50, 2015 Ark. LEXIS 67 (February 19, 2015):

In the case before us, the police based their decision to enter Evans’s room solely on the anonymous tip, which was received by someone other than the arresting officers. They could relate no details regarding the tip. Likewise, the police did not provide any information to establish any other basis for a reasonable belief that Evans was residing in the room. The police were unable to recall how they obtained a key card to room 123, or even which of the three officers actually procured it. Regarding whether the police had reason to believe that Evans was present in the motel room, the police again relied exclusively on the anonymous tip. Although their testimony that the lights and television were on might support a reasonable belief that someone was in the room, nothing but the anonymous tip indicated that the occupant, if any, was Evans. Additionally, the officers observed no activity, and no one answered when they knocked on the door. Accordingly, we cannot say that under these facts the police had a reasonable belief that it was Evans’s motel room and that Evans was present.

The Supreme Court held in Navarette v. California, 134 S. Ct. 1683 (2014), that an anonymous tip, without a sufficient indicia of reliability, cannot provide a basis for finding reasonable suspicion to make a traffic stop. It stated, “[A]n anonymous tip alone seldom demonstrates the informant’s basis of knowledge or veracity.” Id. at 1688 (citing White v. Alabama, 496 U.S. 325, 329 (1990)). Here, the uncorroborated anonymous tip, standing alone, did not provide sufficient detail for a reasonable belief that the motel room was Evans’s room or that Evans was present. Payton, supra. Thus, the circuit court erred in admitting the evidence seized incident to Evans’s arrest.