Opinion
Jan. 21, 1975.
Editorial Note:
This case has been marked 'not for publication' by the court.
John P. Moore, Atty. Gen., John E. Bush, Deputy Atty. Gen., J. Stephen Phillips, Asst. Atty. Gen., Denver, for plaintiff-appellee.
Harden & Napheys, P.C., Charles S. Bloom, Don L. Nelson, Fort Collins, for defendants-appellants.
VanCISE, Judge.
Carole Geffen and Susan Ellen Zoske appeal their judgments of conviction for possession of cannabis. They contend that their motions to suppress evidence admitted at their trial should have been granted because such evidence was the product of an illegal entry and search, and that a conviction based on such evidence cannot stand. The Attorney General has confessed error on behalf of the People. We agree and therefore reverse.
Entry by the police without a warrant into the apartment rented by defendants violated their rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 2, Section VII, of the Colorado Constitution. Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 81 S.Ct. 776, 5 L.Ed.2d 828; People v. Boorem, Colo., 519 P.2d 939; Condon v. People, 176 Colo. 212, 489 P.2d 1297; People v. Baird, 172 Colo. 112, 470 P.2d 20. The entry and search were illegal at the inception, and no exigent circumstances existed to validate them under the facts shown. Defendants' motions to suppress should have been granted. Verdicts and judgments rendered on that evidence cannot be upheld on review. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081; People v. Boorem, Supra; Gonzales v. People, 156 Colo. 252, 398 P.2d 236, cert. denied, 381 U.S. 945, 85 S.Ct. 1788, 14 L.Ed.2d 709.
Since the judgment is being reversed for the reasons stated above, it is unnecessary to consider the other points of error raised by defendants. The judgment is reversed and the cause is remanded for a new trial or for other proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
BERMAN and KELLY, JJ., concur.