Opinion
SC: 157210 COA: 322820
11-22-2019
PEOPLE of the State of Michigan, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Dennis Keith TOWNE, Defendant-Appellant.
Order
On November 6, 2019, the Court heard oral argument on the application for leave to appeal the December 19, 2017 judgment of the Court of Appeals. On order of the Court, the application is again considered. MCR 7.305(H)(1). In lieu of granting leave to appeal, we REVERSE the judgment of the Court of Appeals and VACATE the Livingston Circuit Court order denying the defendant’s motion to suppress. The police officers violated the defendant’s constitutional right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure when they exceeded the proper scope of a knock and talk by approaching and securing the defendant’s home without sufficient reason to believe that the subject of the arrest warrant was inside the home. U.S. Const., Am. IV ; Const. 1963, art. 1, § 11. See People v. Frederick , 500 Mich. 228, 895 N.W.2d 541 (2017) ; Payton v. New York , 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980) ; Steagald v. United States , 451 U.S. 204, 101 S.Ct. 1642, 68 L.Ed.2d 38 (1981). The evidence obtained during the search of the defendant’s home must be suppressed because the warrantless entry was the direct result of the Fourth Amendment violation, and in this case the benefit of deterring future police misconduct outweighs the cost of exclusion. See Wong Sun v. United States , 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963) ; Mapp v. Ohio , 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). We REMAND this case to the Livingston Circuit Court for further proceedings not inconsistent with this order.