State v. Norman, COA23-471, ___ N.C. App. ___ (May. 7, 2024)

In this Henderson County case, defendant appealed after pleading guilty to injury to real property, felony breaking and entering, safecracking, and related offenses, arguing error in denying his motion to suppress because officers remained too long in the curtilage of his residence after an unsuccessful knock and talk. The Court of Appeals majority found no error. 

In February of 2021, police officers responded to a report of a break-in to an ATM along with theft of several cartons of cigarettes, alcohol, and lottery tickets. Soon thereafter, an employee from the State Lottery Commission informed police that someone attempted to redeem one of the stolen tickets at a general store. Police obtained surveillance from the store, showing a black dodge Durango with a missing front bumper and distinctive rims. An officer spotted the vehicle nearby, and performed a knock and talk at the residence. No one answered the door, but officers observed cigarettes and a lottery ticket matching the stolen items sitting on the front seat. After running the VIN, officers determined the vehicle was displaying fake Maryland plates but was actually registered to defendant, who was on supervised probation. Eventually officers noticed someone emerge from the residence and take things from the Durango, finding the cigarettes and lottery ticket on the ground. The officers performed a sweep of the house, finding defendant inside, and searched the house based on defendant’s probation status. They later obtained a search warrant for the Durango, finding cigarettes and tools related to the break-in.

Considering defendant’s argument, the Court of Appeals noted that the officer had probable cause to seek the search warrant before the knock and talk occurred based on the description of the vehicle and the fake plates, along with the cigarettes and lottery ticket he observed inside. The court also pointed to State v. Treece, 129 N.C. App. 93 (1998), for the proposition that officers may secure a scene to protect evidence. Slip Op. at 11. Here, the nexus of the vehicle matching the description, the fake plates, and the proximity to the store where the attempt to redeem the lottery ticket occurred established probable cause for the search regardless of the outcome of the knock and talk. The court also noted that defendant was under supervised probation and subject to warrantless searches, meaning the items inside would have been discovered and admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine.  

Judge Wood dissented, and would have found error in denying defendant’s motion to suppress.