WI: Where there was a bona fide community caretaking entry because of blood outside and inside a house, the smell of marijuana didn’t negate the exigency

The warrantless search of defendant’s home including a room with a locked, blood-spattered door, was reasonable under the community caretaking function. In light of all the facts that an officer had to consider, the blood outside the house, inside the house, and on the door itself, the fact that the door was locked, the conflicting stories, and the noises the officers had heard all required action. The fact that the officer heard a fan inside the locked room and smelled marijuana did not negate the bona fide community caretaking function. State v. Matalonis, 2016 WI 7, 2016 Wisc. LEXIS 7 (Feb. 10, 2016).

What appeared to be hand-to-hand transactions occurring from a vehicle with one person staying in the car and the other walking across the street to meet people while pacing on the phone was probable cause. The police were put on to this by a CI reporting the sales. State v. Lester, 2016 Minn. LEXIS 48 (Feb. 10, 2016).*