STATE v. GEISLER5/11/1990
le belief" that the defendant's "life was endangered," that the defendant might attempt to flee, and the danger of destruction of evidence. The court further concluded that even if the police did not have exigent circumstances to enter the house, the blood alcohol results, the videotape of the defendant's arrest, and the defendant's statements to the police were not the "fruit of an illegal arrest" and were, therefore, admissible.
We first note that the state has conceded in its brief, and we agree, that there is no support for the court's findings regarding the risks of destruction of evidence and the defendant's flight, and that such findings cannot be justified on appeal. We, therefore, need address only the issue of whether the police officers reasonably believed that the defendant's life was in danger. Although the court, in its ruling, relied on the case of State v. Harris, 19 Conn. App. 174, 561 A.2d 459, cert. denied, 212 Conn. 814, 565 A.2d 537 (1989), in which this court set forth the standards for "exigent circumstances," we agree with the parties to this appeal
that the court confused "exigent circumstances" with the "emergency doctrine" in concluding that the warrantless entry was justified.
B
THE EMERGENCY DOCTRINE
It is fundamental that "`physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed . . . .'" Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 585, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), quoting United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972); see also State v. Gallagher, 191 Conn. 433, 443, 465 A.2d 323 (1983). Warrantless searches and seizures inside a home are presumptively unreasonable; see Payton v. New York, supra, 586; and the state bears the burden of showing that "exigent circumstances" exist to justify the entry into a private home for she purpose of conducting a search or effecting an arrest without a warrant. State v. Klauss, 19 Conn. App. 296, 300, 562 A.2d 558 (1989); State v. Enright, 17 Conn. App. 142, 147, 550 A.2d 1095 (1988).
The "emergency doctrine" is well established in the law of search and seizure. See Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978); State v. Klauss, supra; 2 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure (2d Ed. 1974) 6.6(a), pp. 697-702. Pursuant to this doctrine, police may enter a home without a warrant only "when they reasonably believe that a person within is in need of immediate aid." (Emphasis added.) State v. Klauss, supra, 301. " iven the rationale for this very limited exception, the state actors making the search must have reason to believe that life or limb is in immediate jeopardy and that the intrusion is reasonably necessary to alleviate the threat." Good v. Dauphin County Social Services, 891 F.2d 1087, 1094 (3d Cir. 1989). The reasonableness of a police officer's determination that an emergency
exists is evaluated on the basis of facts known at the time of entry. See W. LaFave, supra, 698. The test is an objective one. See State v. Guertin, 190 Conn. 440, 453, 461 A.2d 963 (1983).
This court recently described the test to be employed in "emergency doctrine" cases as "whether, under the totality of the circumstances, a well-trained police officer reasonably would have believed that a warrantless entry was necessary to assist a person inside in need of immediate aid." (Emphasis added.) State v. Klauss, supra, 302. After a thorough review of this entire trial record, we conclude that the trial court's finding of a justifiable warrantless entry into the defendant's home cannot be supported by the "emergency doctrine."
In
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