Court of Appeals excludes evidence seized with no-knock warrant

The Attorney General's office is considering whether to seek U.S. Supreme Court review of yesterday's Maryland Court of Appeals decision affirming that evidence seized after police failed to knock and identify themselves when executing a search warrant must be excluded from trial.

"[A]pplication of the inevitable discovery doctrine to the facts sub judice would read the knock and announce requirement of the Fourth Amendment out of the Constitution and, thus, permit forcible and unannounced entry in every search pursuant to a valid warrant, whether exigent circumstances exist or not," Chief Judge Robert M. Bell wrote.

The head of the attorney general's criminal appeals division, Kathryn Grill Graeff, said a split among the states on the issue could make the case a candidate for the nation's highest court.

"We will review it carefully," Graeff said.

The Office of the Public Defender, meanwhile, voiced approval of yesterday's decision, which Assistant Public Defender Geraldine K. Sweeney hopes will "curb unnecessary police activities."

"We're pleased with the decision," said Sweeney. "We're pleased that it was unanimous."

The Court of Appeals held that two exceptions to the exclusionary rule -- the inevitable discovery and the independent source exceptions -- did not apply.

The case did not involve a no-knock warrant -- and as the court mentioned in a footnote, the case leaves open the question of whether a no-knock warrant can ever be valid in this state.

"Whether Maryland permits the issuance of 'no-knock' warrants has not been questioned and, thus, is not an issue in the instant case," Bell wrote.

Cross-county team

The decision stems from a cross-county drug investigation in 1998. After the suspect, Kai Ruchell Lee, twice sold cocaine to a confidential informant in Baltimore County, police obtained a warrant to search Lee's Harford County home from a district court judge.

A team that included officers from Baltimore County, Harford County and Maryland State Police surrounded Lee's Colonial-style home and battered down the door with a concrete-filled pipe.

Once inside the home, police officers wearing black hoods and combat-fatigue uniforms spread through the house. They took three small children from their bedrooms, handcuffed two adults found in the master bedroom, and herded them into the family room while police searched the rest of the house.

During the raid, police seized a clear plastic bag holding 26 grams of cocaine, four smaller bags of cocaine, nearly $1,400 cash and other evidence.

The defense argued that the evidence seized from the search must be suppressed because police failed to knock and announce their presence before executing the search warrant.

The Court of Special Appeals noted that the U.S. Supreme Court and Maryland law presumptively require knocking and announcing police presence before executing a valid warrant, but "forgives the failure to do so when there are legally sufficient exigent circumstances."

The Court of Special Appeals rejected a per se exception to the knock-and-announce requirement for drug searches, where suspects might easily destroy evidence when notified the police are outside their door.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeals agreed, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's 1997 decision, Richards v. Wisconsin, which struck down Wisconsin's per se rule allowing no-knock warrants in felony drug investigations.

WHAT THE COURT HELD

Case: State v. Kai Ruchell Lee, CA No. 81, Sept. Term 2001. Reported. Opinion by Bell, C.J. Filed April 23, 2003.

Issue: Did the trial court err in admitting drug evidence seized pursuant to a warrant, executed without knocking and announcing the police presence before forcing open the door to the premises?

Holding: Yes. The failure, without justification, of police to knock and announce their presence rendered the entry unreasonable and requires the exclusion of the evidence seized.

Counsel: Asst. AG Rachel Marblestone Kamins for petitioner; Asst. PD Geraldine K. Sweeney for respondent.

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