Hunter v. State

Since one officer happened on the matchbox containing cocaine while other officers were asking defendants general questions, the discovery of the cocaine and defendants' subsequent statements were not the product of an illegal detention.

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Larry Dean Hunter and Eric Eugene Lee were jointly indicted, tried, and found guilty of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. In their appeals, consolidated for consideration in this opinion, Hunter and Lee claim that the evidence used to convict them was obtained as the result of an illegal detention in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and that the trial court erred by denying their motions to suppress on this ground. Finding no error in the denial of the motions, we affirm the judgments of conviction.

Based on reliable information that illegal drug activity was taking place in an apartment located in a known drug trafficking area in the City of Springfield, police obtained a no-knock warrant to search the apartment. When a team of police officers arrived at the apartment to execute the search warrant, they saw a car parked in front of and facing the ground floor apartment. The officers saw three men, two of whom were Hunter and Lee, standing near the front of the car with the hood of the engine compartment raised. In that position, the men were standing about five or six feet from the apartment door on a sidewalk in front of the apartment. As the officers approached the apartment to enter on the search warrant, one of the officers, who was assigned to cover the area in front of the apartment while the other officers entered, ordered all three men to lay prone on the ground with their hands visible. The officer, who was armed with a shotgun, testified that he detained the three men in this position because they were located close to the door of the apartment where a potentially dangerous entry and search was taking place, and that it was necessary for the safety of the entering officers and for the safety of the three men. The men were detained on the ground while the other officers entered the apartment and determined that no one was inside—a period of no more than one minute.

Hunter v. State

Since one officer happened on the matchbox containing cocaine while other officers were asking defendants general questions, the discovery of the cocaine and defendants' subsequent statements were not the product of an illegal detention.

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