NC: No answer at front door knock and talk doesn’t justify going to back door

Officers conducting a knock and talk got no answer at the front door, and they went around to the back where there was no path. There was no justification for going to the back door, and the view of marijuana plants in the back is suppressed. State v. Pasour, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 1201 (October 16, 2012):

Here, the officers were within the curtilage of the home when they viewed the plants, regardless of whether they were in the back or side yards. See Rhodes, 151 N.C. App. at 214, 565 S.E.2d at 270 (2002). There is no indication from the record that the plants were visible from the front or from the road. The trial court found that there was a “no trespassing” sign that was “plainly visible” on the side of the residence where the officers walked. Even though the officers claim they did not see the sign, such a sign is evidence of the homeowner’s intent that the side and back of the home were not open to the public. Unlike in Garcia, there is no evidence here to suggest that there was a path of any kind or anything else to suggest a visitor’s use of the rear door; instead, all visitor traffic appeared to be kept to the front door and traffic to the rear was discouraged as a result of the posted sign. See Garcia, 997 F.2d at 1279-80.

Further, similar to the circumstances in Pena, there is no evidence in the record that suggests that the officers had reason to believe that knocking at Defendant’s back door would produce a response after knocking multiple times at his front and side doors had not. At the suppression hearing, the officers testified that they went into Defendant’s backyard as part of “standard procedure” to see if anyone was in the backyard or in the residence. The State argues that one of the police officers heard a sound within the dwelling, and as such, it was reasonable to believe that there was someone home who was simply unaware of the officers’ presence, and so the officers were justified in entering the backyard. The officers admit that they never saw anyone come out of the house, nor did they hear noises coming from the back of the house. It is also unclear from the hearing transcript as to whether the officers started around back before or after they became aware that the officer knocking at the door had even heard a noise, as one testified that they started back after the initial knock and the other testified they started back after their fellow officer heard a noise. The officer that heard the noise was not able to identify when in time he heard it, what the noise sounded like, where it came from, or even if it sounded like a person moving around. Furthermore, the trial court made no finding of fact on this point; instead it only found that the officers went around back as was “standard procedure” “to observe anyone leaving the house” and for officer safety. Neither this finding nor the underlying facts is sufficient to support the officers’ movement toward the back of the house.

Given the circumstances of this case, there was no justification for the officers to enter Defendant’s backyard and so their actions were violative of the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress.

There are cases contra.