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Search and Seizure — warrantless searches — exigent circumstances

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 11, 2014//

Search and Seizure — warrantless searches — exigent circumstances

By: WISCONSIN LAW JOURNAL STAFF//June 11, 2014//

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Criminal

Search and Seizure — warrantless searches — exigent circumstances

Where officers were lawfully present at the scene when they were apprised that there was a shotgun in a backpack associated with the men who were being questioned, exigent circumstances were present, giving justification for the officer to seize the shotgun.

“In the case at hand, exigent circumstances that developed during this investigation justified the warrantless search and seizure of the backpack with the sawed-off shotgun in it. This officer was in the midst of completing her interview of several men suspected of involvement in a fight nearby. She was even readying to leave with the admonition to tell the men to ‘knock it off.’ Then, she received information that the men possessed a black backpack with weapons in it — a sawed-off shotgun and a handgun. There was already a previous report that the chief aggressor in the fight, who fit Kirby’s description, had threatened to return to the scene with a weapon. The officer initially saw no weapon at the scene, but then received a report that these men involved in the fight had a black backpack with a sawed-off shotgun and a handgun in it. Importantly, even had the officer been outside the threshold of the apartment instead of having crossed over it, this new information would have created the same exigent circumstances justifying entry into the apartment to see if there was a black backpack near these men like the one described.

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2013AP876-CR State v. Kirby

Dist. II, Racine County, Torhorst, J., Brown, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: La Fleur, Catherine A., Milwaukee; For Respondent: Cochrane, Drew J., Madison; Corning, Jordan C.A., Madison

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