Failure to announce in warrantless arrest voids search incident but not arrest

Police were on a “manhunt” for a bank robber on a bicycle and narrowed the search to a motel. They entered the motel room that defendant was supposed to be in, and he fled out a window and was captured. The warrantless entry was invalid because there were no exigent circumstances to dispense with announcement. The mere possibility of a gun is not enough under Richards. “We are persuaded, however, that Payton still governs non-parolee cases (such as this one) involving a failure of knock and announce without a search warrant. We conclude that the wad of money, the knives, and the glass pipe should have been suppressed as fruit of the knock and announce violation.” The arrest, however, was not invalid. Finally, Hudson did not apply to a case without a search warrant. State v. Gibbs, 224 S.W.3d 126 (Mo. App. W.D. 2007).

Police did not violate the common law right of inquiry of a citizen by stopping and talking to him. He validly consented to a search. People v Casimey, 2007 NY Slip Op 2807, 2007 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4123 (1st Dept. April 3, 2007).*

Officers arresting defendant on his porch were permitted to follow him into his house under Chrisman when he went in to tell his girlfriend he was arrested. Once inside, he validly consented to a search of the basement living area. United States v. Varner, 481 F.3d 569 (8th Cir. 2007).*

Third party consent was valid, and police did not have to find a potentially objecting co-tenant to secure his approval, too. United States v. Patterson, 481 F.3d 1029 (8th Cir. 2007):

On appeal, Patterson argues that the district court violated the Supreme Court’s recent decision that “a warrantless search of a shared dwelling … over the express refusal of consent by a physically present resident cannot be justified … on the basis of consent given to the police by another resident.” Georgia v. Randolph, 126 S. Ct. 1515, 1526 (2006). Here, had the district court credited Patterson’s testimony that Officer Cartwright avoided asking Patterson for consent until after the closet search, we would need to construe and apply the Supreme Court’s caveat that the police have no obligation “to take affirmative steps to find a potentially objecting co-tenant” when one co-tenant has consented to the search. Randolph, 126 S. Ct. at 1527. But the district court did not credit Patterson’s testimony, instead finding that Patterson expressly consented to a search of the closet. As that credibility finding is not clearly erroneous, Cartwright searched the closet with the consent of both Fletcher and Patterson, uncovering probable cause to arrest them both and to obtain a warrant to search the remainder of their residence. The motion to suppress was properly denied.