United States v. Ackerman, No. 23-1298 (8th Cir. 2023)
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The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Darren J. Ackerman’s motion to suppress evidence of firearms discovered in his basement. The police had entered his home on the information that Ackerman had tried to choke his girlfriend, was possibly on drugs, and might be holding their infant daughter hostage. They found him at the bottom of the basement stairs, holding his daughter, and upon arresting and handcuffing him, they performed a protective sweep of the basement, during which they found firearms in a room adjoining the area of his arrest.
Ackerman argued that the search was not a valid protective sweep as the rooms searched did not adjoin the place of his arrest. The court, however, determined that the arrest occurred at the bottom of the stairs, where Ackerman first submitted to the officers' authority. The court concluded that the room where the firearms were found immediately adjoined the area at the bottom of the stairs, and thus, the protective sweep complied with the Fourth Amendment.
The court followed the "protective sweep" exception to the Fourth Amendment, which allows officers to conduct a quick and limited search of premises, incident to an arrest and conducted to protect the safety of police officers or others. The court used the two-prong test from the Supreme Court case Maryland v. Buie to determine the constitutionality of the protective sweep. The first prong allows officers to look in closets and other spaces immediately adjoining the place of arrest from where an attack could be launched, and the second prong allows officers to search areas where they believe a danger may be present based on articulable facts.
Court Description: [Benton, Author, with Shepherd and Kelly, Circuit Judges] Criminal case - Criminal law. The search of a room of his house adjacent to the space where defendant was arrested was a valid protective search.
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