Among the many interests served by the Fourth Amendment, the privacy interest in one's home has few equals. "At the very core of the Fourth Amendment stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion." Kyllo v. United States, 533 U.S. 27, 31, 121 S.Ct. 2038, 150 L.Ed.2d 94 (2001) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). "It is axiomatic that the `physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.'" Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 748, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d 732 (1984) (citation omitted). But even on this topic the Fourth Amendment's text endorses no absolutes. It instead condemns only "unreasonable" searches and seizures.
One concession to reasonableness, the emergency exception, recognizes the "right of the police to enter and investigate" when someone's health or physical safety is genuinely threatened. Reynolds v. Commonwealth, 9 Va.App. 430, 437, 388 S.E.2d 659, 664 (1990) (citation omitted); see also Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 98 S.Ct. 2408, 57 L.Ed.2d 290 (1978). It rests on the commonsense rationale that "preservation of human life is paramount to the right of privacy" protected by the Fourth Amendment. Reynolds, 9 Va.App. at 437, 388 S.E.2d at 664 (citation omitted). This concern parallels one of the applications of the community caretaker exception, which recognizes that "police owe `duties to the public, such as rendering aid to individuals in danger of physical harm, reducing the commission of crimes through patrol and other preventive measures, and providing services on an emergency basis.'" Id. at 436, 388 S.E.2d at 663.[1]
In this case, however, we need not engage in any extended analysis of the emergency or community caretaker exceptions. Nor need we elaborate on their various formulations. We believe the facts would not justify an objectively reasonable officer to think either exception applied.[2] Stripped of its immaterial aspects, the fact pattern in this case includes only one arguably suspicious circumstance: an open door on an August night.
There were no signs of forced entry—such as pry marks, mangled locks, broken hinges, or disfigured door jams.[3] No one called out 218*218 for help. No sounds or observations suggested panic or danger within the apartment. There were no reports from neighbors about any unique medical concerns or other vulnerabilities of the apartment's occupants. Nor did any of Kyer's neighbors report any suspicious circumstances suggesting foul play. Cf. Hill v. Commonwealth, 18 Va.App. 1, 4, 441 S.E.2d 50, 51 (1994) (finding exigent circumstances existed when a neighbor reported that the homeowner "had been out of town for two days" prior to the police discovery of an open front door, leading the neighbor to fear "the house had been burglarized").
The mere discovery of an "open door" of a residence—absent some other reason for concern—"is not, in and of itself, a circumstance that could give rise to a reasonable belief that entry is necessary to prevent harm to persons or property." State v. Christenson, 181 Or.App. 345, 45 P.3d 511, 513 (2002) (emphasis added). "It is simply too common an event to create a concern of harm in the absence of other signs of trouble, such as evidence of a forced entry or a medical emergency; here, there were no such indications." Id.[4] In short, when the "only evidence of an emergency was a door left open late on a summer night," we agree with other courts that "regardless of what the officers may subjectively have thought, a reasonable person would not believe an emergency existed." State v. Swenson, 59 Wash.App. 586, 799 P.2d 1188, 1190 (1990); see also State v. Ryon, 137 N.M. 174, 108 P.3d 1032, 1047 (2005) (noting that, under the emergency assistance doctrine, an "open door ought not be viewed as a general invitation to enter"). The police had no legal right, therefore, to enter the Kyer apartment uninvited. The trial court erred in concluding otherwise.
