This consolidated appeal involves two cases: the first case (the 2010 case) concerns defendant’s April 2010 convictions, following a trial on stipulated facts, for unlawful entry into a motor vehicle, ORS 164.272, and second-degree theft, ORS 164.045. The second case (the 2006 case) concerns, as pertinent here, the resultant revocation of defendant’s probation and imposition of additional terms of incarceration on defendant’s prior 2006 convictions due to his “new criminal conduct” in connection with the 2010 case.
Defendant first appeals the April 2010 judgment of conviction, assigning error to the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained after police entered his home without a warrant in violation of Article I, section 9, of the Oregon Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Specifically, he argues that the court erroneously determined that (1) one of the home’s occupants consented to the warrantless entry merely by moving out of the way just before an officer walked through the doorway with his weapon drawn and (2) a second person, also a suspect, consented to the search by walking toward that same officer as he stood in the doorway. That is, challenging the trial court’s determination that “[t]here was consent by conduct!,]” he asserts that, “[a]t most, the people in the home acquiesced to the officerf’s] armed entry into the home.”
As to the first assignment of error, we agree with defendant and, accordingly, reverse and remand. Given that disposition, we reverse the order and judgment addressed by defendant’s second assignment of error because, absent defendant’s conviction in the 2010 case, no “new criminal conduct” exists that would permit the imposition of probation revocation sanctions in the 2006 case.
We review a trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress for legal error and defer to its findings of fact provided that there is sufficient evidence in the record to support them. State v. Ehly,
When Lazzini and Reed arrived, all three officers went to the mobile home park and showed the still-frame image to the officers’ unnamed contact there. The contact identified the suspect depicted in that image, defendant, as “DJ” and directed the officers to defendant’s residence. The three officers proceeded to that residence, and Tyrus knocked on the front door. A woman later identified as Fuller opened the door, having just woken up, and Tyrus asked her, “[Are] there two guys here?” Immediately after asking that question, and while positioned “to the side of the door” for safety reasons, Tyrus observed “one of the suspects that [he] recognize [d] from the [Wal-Mart surveillance] video” — still wearing the distinctive New York Yankees hat — walking out of the kitchen. The suspect, later identified as Pipgrass, was carrying a plate of food and a large kitchen knife.
At that point, Tyrus — still just outside the door-frame — ceased interaction with Fuller, drew his gun, and
After stepping through the doorway, Tyrus saw defendant “building like an entertainment center in the living room off to the left.” Defendant then walked around a couch toward the officers, and Tyrus recognized him as the second suspect depicted in the surveillance video and still-frame image. Tyrus and Reed immediately arrested and handcuffed defendant and Pipgrass, both of whom “totally followed orders and were compliant” with the officers’ directives. Tyrus ordered Pipgrass to sit on a couch, and in doing so he observed the distinctive University of Oregon sweatshirt depicted in the surveillance video lying on top of that couch. In order to separate the suspects, Reed immediately took defendant outside; Lazzini then seated him on a bench and read him his Miranda rights. Ultimately, defendant confessed to the crime, and the property stolen from the red Ford Explorer was found in his bedroom.
On appeal, defendant reprises his contentions below, arguing that “[a] 11 [oral and physical] evidence derived from the unlawful entry and arrest should have been suppressed” due to the officers’ purportedly unlawful entry into his home in violation of both Article I, section 9, and the Fourth Amendment. He contends that the trial court erred in concluding that there was consent “by conduct” and argues that, at best, Fuller’s actions constituted “mere acquiescence” to the officers’ authority. That is, defendant argues, Fuller
We conclude that Fuller’s actions did not, as a matter of law, constitute consent to the officers’ entry. Rather, as defendant correctly asserts, Fuller’s sliding against the wall — out of the line of fire — at best amounted to “mere acquiescence” to police authority. See State v. Jepson,
As this court noted in State v. Martin,
“[T]he particular facts in [this] case” — considering “all of the circumstances” — are far less ambiguous than those in Martin. Notably, Tyrus himself explicitly acknowledged at the hearing that Fuller was “getting out of the way” (that is, “retreating]”) when she stepped out of the line of fire by “sliding] over” against the wall during Tyrus’s interaction with Pipgrass. Moreover, as we recently reiterated in Jepson, mere acquiescence “‘occurs when an individual is not given a reasonable opportunity to choose to consent ***.’”
Accordingly, the officers unlawfully entered defendant’s home without a warrant in violation of Article I, section 9. The trial court therefore erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence derived from that unlawful entry.
A145681 and A145682 reversed and remanded.
Notes
The trial court found that there were “clearly no exigent circumstances” justifying entry, and, on appeal, the state neither contests that conclusion nor advances any argument regarding exigent circumstances.
The state offers no argument on appeal regarding the second suspect’s conduct as it relates to the issue of consent, and it is unclear whether the trial court in fact based its ruling on that conduct. Regardless, to the extent that the trial court concluded that the second suspect’s conduct constituted consent, we reject that conclusion because, as illustrated in our opinion, the suspect was merely walking forward in response to an armed police officer’s directive to do so. Cf. State v. Berg,
No evidence was adduced as to whether Reed also drew his weapon as Fuller stood in the doorway while Tyrus interacted with Pipgrass or as he and Tyrus entered the home. Tyrus, given his position in front of Reed, simply testified, “I don’t know.”
The record does not provide any information regarding the apparent search of defendant’s bedroom — nor is it clear regarding the particulars of defendant’s
As noted, the trial court did not specifically attribute the consent “by conduct” to either Fuller or Pipgrass. However, on appeal the state addresses only Fuller’s conduct, and, as set forth above, to the extent that the trial court concluded that Pipgrass voluntarily consented to Tyrus’s entry, we reject that conclusion.
On that point, the record suggests that Fuller slid against the wall just after Tyrus “yelled to [Pipgrass], “Where’s DJ?”’ (Emphasis added.) In other words, Fuller slid against the wall as the situation began to escalate. Moreover, given Pipgrass’s location behind Fuller, the sequence of events suggests that Tyrus effectively “yelled” at Fuller.
The state neither argued below nor argues on appeal that defendant’s confession to Lazzini, made after administration of Miranda warnings, was sufficiently attenuated from the unlawful entry and arrest such that it is admissible. Accordingly, we do not address that issue.
