State v. Wan

Officers that viewed a woman crying in the fetal position, inside of an apartment, after an argument, had sufficient evidence for the application of the emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement. A jury instruction, regarding the right to self-defense during an arrest involving unlawful force may be utilized, when the defendant believed that the force being used exceeded the force reasonably necessary to make the arrest.

Defendant was convicted for interfering with a police officer and resisting arrest. He asserted error to the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained without a warrant and refusal to instruct the jury in regards to the right to self-defense during arrest involving unlawful force. Officers were dispatched to Defendant's apartment after he and his girlfriend had an argument. Officers saw the girlfriend crying, in the fetal position, inside the apartment and entered over the objections of the Defendant. Defendant and officers struggled, but, the Defendant never struck any of the officers. The Defendant argued that all evidence obtained should be suppressed because the officers did not have a warrant, and that his jury instruction should have been admitted because he did not attack the officers. The State argued that the emergency aid exception to the warrant requirement applied and that the jury instruction was not applicable to the facts in this case. The Court held that the emergency aid exception applied, but that the jury instruction on the right to self-defense should have been given because the Defendant proposed a self-defense theory. Affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded.