N.D.Cal.: SW was issued before entry; even if not, emergency justified the entry

“On this record, Reynolds has not shown that the search of his room was illegal. The officers did not enter it until they had a valid warrant. For the sake of completeness, the Court also finds that entering Reynolds’s room without a warrant to sweep for possible gunshot victims would not have been unreasonable. The Supreme Court has specifically concluded that “[o]ne exigency obviating the requirement of a warrant is the need to assist persons who are seriously injured or threatened with such injury.” Brigham City v. Stuart, 547 U.S. 398, 403 (2006). The evidence demonstrates that Detective Edwards inserted the key to ensure there were no gunshot victims inside the room, not to obtain information. … see United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400, 404-410 (2012). Another resident had already identified Reynolds’s room. … Detective Edwards’s belief that there might be a serious injury inside the bedroom was objectively reasonable given the reports of gunshots in the area, and the room had been identified as Reynolds’s, who had been found with a gun magazine and described as arguing with a woman in front of the apartment just prior to the gunshots. See Brigham City, 547 U.S. at 400; …” United States v. Reynolds, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94523 (N.D. Cal. May 29, 2020).

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