State v. Samuolis

Citations

• 344 Conn. 200

Syllabus

Pursuant to the emergency exception to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment to the United States constitution, the police are permitted to enter a home without a warrant when they have an objec- 344 Conn. 200 AUGUST, 2022 201 State v. Samuolis tively reasonable basis for believing that an occupant is seriously injured or imminently threatened with such injury. Convicted of the crimes of murder, assault in the first degree, and attempt to commit assault in the first degree, the defendant appealed to this court, claiming that the trial court improperly had denied his motion to suppress certain evidence seized by the police as a result of their warrantless entry into his home. Prior to the challenged entry, the defen- dant's neighbor contacted the police because he and other neighbors were concerned that they had not seen the defendant's father, S, who lived with the defendant, in a long time. Thereafter, two police officers were dispatched to the defendant's residence to check on S's well-being. The officers assessed the exterior of the residence, knocked on the doors, and called into open windows but received no response and concluded that no one was home. Immediately after the well-being check, one of the officers was told by his supervising officer that the defendant had, or possibly had, mental health issues. Four days later, the defendant's neighbor again contacted the police and requested another well-being check. The officers conducting the second well-being check were warned that the defendant was possibly a mentally disturbed person. Upon their arrival, the officers spoke with the neighbor, who told them that, after the previous visit by the police, the defendant covered the lower rear windows with chicken wire. The neighbor also indicated that he noticed a mass of flies around the upper rear window of the residence. One of the officers believed, based on his prior experi- ence, that the sheer number of flies indicated that there might be a dead bo