OH2: Plain view of drugs through screen door justified entry

Officers came to an apartment with an arrest warrant. When the door inside was opened, they could see drugs in plain view within five feet of the door. It was reasonable for them to open the screen door to preserve the evidence because it was obvious defendant knew they saw it. State v. Garrett, 2018-Ohio-4530, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 4846 (2d Dist. Nov. 9, 2018):

[*P44] Upon review, we find the present case is more analogous to the situations in Goode and Cheadle, wherein this court found it was reasonable for the officers to assume that the drugs were at risk of being destroyed if they waited to obtain a search warrant. Such an assumption was reasonable in this case because Shaw had a warrant for his arrest and the drug evidence was located only five feet from where the officers were standing. The record indicates that Garrett fully opened the inner front door to the apartment, giving the officers a clear view of the drug evidence from the doorway. Given the clear view and the officers’ close proximity to the drug evidence, it is fair to assume that Garrett and Shaw were aware that the officers saw the drug evidence while they were speaking with the officers at the doorway. Therefore, under the circumstances of this case, it was reasonable for the officers to impute their knowledge of the drug evidence to Garrett and Shaw and to believe that the drug evidence was at risk of being destroyed if they did not immediately enter the apartment and preserve the scene.

[*P45] Although the officers could have lawfully entered the apartment and stood guard to protect the evidence while a search warrant was obtained, State v. Burns, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 22674, 2010-Ohio-2831, ¶ 22, (“when officers secure a residence pending a search warrant, they may enter that residence”), we find the officers’ failure to do so in this case was not critical, given that no search of the apartment was performed when the officers entered the residence. Rather, the officers merely collected the drug evidence that was observed in plain view on the plastic storage bin in the living room and conducted pat-down searches of Garrett and Shaw.

. . .

[*P47] However, with regard to the drug evidence in plain view, we find that under the specific circumstances of this case, the officers were justified in entering the apartment to collect it. These circumstances include the fact that Shaw had a warrant for his arrest, that there were multiple complaints about drugs being sold from the apartment, that the apartment was in a high crime area, that the officers smelled marijuana emanating from the apartment, and that Garrett and Shaw had reason to believe the officers saw the drug evidence from the doorway. Therefore, under the specific circumstances of this case, we conclude the totality of the circumstances presented an exigency that justified the officers’ warrantless entry into the apartment. As a result of such exigency, we conclude that the officers had a lawful right of access to the drugs in plain view.