ANGUS MCEACHERN WALLEN, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court affirmed Wallen's convictions for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and first-degree arson, holding that police officers' warrantless entry into his motel room was justified by an objectively reasonable belief that his co-defendant required immediate assistance.
Police officers' warrantless entry into a motel room was constitutional under the emergency aid doctrine because they held an objectively reasonable belief that a person inside required immediate assistance.
[1] Police may enter a residence without a warrant when they hold an objectively reasonable belief that a person inside requires immediate emergency assistance.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceWallen and his co-defendant Kara Winn fled to a motel room in Biloxi, Mississippi after committing first-degree murder, armed robbery, and first-degre…
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PER CURIAM.
Appellant Angus McEachern Wallen appeals his convictions and sentences for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and first-degree arson. Appellant challenges only the trial court’s denial of a motion to suppress incriminating evidence seized in a motel room in Biloxi, Mississippi, where Wallen and his co-defendant fled after committing the offenses for which both were convicted. The record supports the trial court’s determination that, at the moment police officers entered Wallen’s motel room without a warrant, they held an objectively reasonable belief that Wallen’s co-defendant, Kara Winn, who was inside the room, might have harmed herself and required immediate assistance. See Seibert v. State, 923 So. 2d 460, 467-68 (Fla.2006). We note that the police did not immediately search the room after securing Winn and the weapon found next to her on the bed, but rather sealed the premises and awaited the arrival of a valid search warrant, in conformance to the procedure prescribed in Seibert. Id. at 468.
Appellant did not preserve his alternative argument on appeal that Biloxi police officers learned the location of the motel room by improperly interrogating Wallen while booking him into jail for an unrelated offense. See Farina v. State, 937 So. 2d 612, 629 (Fla.2006) (“[T]he issue ... was not preserved because defense counsel did not obtain a ruling on the motion at trial. As we have held, the failure to obtain a ruling on a motion or objection fails to preserve an issue for appeal.”). AFFIRMED.
KAHN, PADOVANO and HAWKES, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Winn v. State, 18 So. 3d 550 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008)…e arson. Winn was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder and robbery convictions, and to a consecutive term of thirty years in prison for the arson conviction. We have affirmed the convictions of appellant’s co-defendant. See Wallen v. State, 984 So. 2d 655 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008). We have extensively reviewed the trial record, as well as each of the arguments of potential error in appointed counsel’s An-ders brief and trial counsel’s motion for a new trial, and we find neither preserved, reversible erro…
Authorities Cited
- Seibert v. State, 923 So. 2d 460 (Fla. 2006)
- Farina v. State, 937 So. 2d 612 (Fla. 2006)