In January 2019, Pennington County deputies responded to a report of a disturbance inside a Rapid Valley home. After they entered to determine if anyone needed help, one deputy found drug vials lying on a couch. That find led to drug charges against the renter.
During prosecution, the trial judge suppressed that evidence.
The U.S. Attorney’s office appealed the suppression, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments on December 18th.
Kevin Koliner represents the U.S. Attorney in South Dakota. He tells judges that deputies had an undisputed reason to enter the home of Dane Arredondo after neighbors reported hearing a woman screaming.
One of the deputies looked through a window and saw a rifle casing on a stair step. He knocked, and when Arredondo’s brother answered, the deputy saw that the man was obviously intoxicated.
“He then pushes the door open a bit more, he sees a woman lying prone on the basement floor. The defendant concedes both before the district court and on appeal that warrantless entry into the home was justified.”
Koliner says after deputies determined that the woman inside the home had not been assaulted, they still had to ensure that she would be safe after they left and that her intoxication was not a symptom of an overdose.
And so the deputies, without a search warrant, closely examined vials lying on a couch and legally arrested Arredondo for possessing the Ketamine inside.
But Arredondo’s attorney says the deputies needed to do more to establish probable cause before picking up the vials and reading the labels, which were not in plain view.
Molly Quinn tells appellate judges that the vials as seen from the deputy’s viewpoint could have contained any number of legal substances.
“There’s also hormones, fertility drugs, contraception, there’s injectable forms of chemotherapy, there’s arthritis treatments. People have injectable medications for their pets that can be in their home.”
Quinn says deputies could have looked for needle marks or behaviors resulting from using illegal drugs.
“They didn’t look around and see any syringes or needles. There’s no indication that the individuals in the home had been using these vials.”
Quinn says deputies also should have determined if Arredondo, a paramedic, could legally possess the contents of those vials.
Judges will consider the case and issue an opinion in due course.
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