Facts: Petitioner Brent Smith was convicted of the manufacture of methamphetamine in the Superior Court for Benton County after a trial in which evidence derived from a warrantless search of an abandoned building Smith occupied that had been occasioned by an anonymous tip reporting the presence of a stolen tanker truck containing hazardous chemicals on the property was admitted. Smith subsequently appealed his conviction, asserting that the search had not been justified by exigent circumstances relating to officer safety and that the evidence should therefore have been suppressed. The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed Smith’s conviction, holding that, given the presence of volatile chemicals in the stolen tanker truck and the fact that an officer had observed a firearm inside of the building, the search of the building was necessitated by concerns for the safety of the officers responding to the scene and therefore lawful. Smith appealed this decision to the Supreme Court of Washington.
Question(s): Was the warrantless search of the building Smith occupied justified by exigent circumstances relating to officer safety?
Conclusion: Justice Owens’ opinion for the Court affirmed the Washington Court of Appeals, concluding that a warrantless search was lawful under the circumstances and that the evidence derived from it had therefore been properly admitted as the search occurred in direct response to legitimate concerns that someone in the building might open fire on the officers and potentially ignite the chemicals in the tanker truck and was limited in scope to searching the building for weapons.
Docket No. 79917-2 (from Court of Appeals Division III Case No. 23986-1)
Petitioner: Brent Richard Smith
Respondent: State of Washington
Briefs:
Argument: Thursday, May 15, 2008 10:00am
[Source: TVW, http://tvw.org]
Audio: Washington Supreme Court
Decided: Thursday, January 22nd, 2009
Prevailing Party: State of Washington (Respondent)
Vote: 6-3
Citation: Pending
Alexander
Johnson
Madsen
Sanders
(Dissent)
Chambers
Owens
(Majority)
Fairhurst
Johnson
Stephens
Note: We post only slip opinion(s) as published at the time of the decision. Please consult Washington Reports printed volumes for the opinion(s) in their final form. Each opinion should appear next to the Justice who authored it.