04-15-08 State of New Jersey v. James Robinson
A-6381-05T4
In this appeal, we reverse the trial court's denial of
defendant's motion to suppress evidence found in his dwelling.
Our decision is grounded exclusively under the rights conferred
in Article I, paragraph 7 of the Constitution of the State of
New Jersey.
In executing a knock-and-announce warrant, the police must
give the occupants of the dwelling a reasonable opportunity to
respond before resorting to the use of force to gain entry to
the residence. Here, the police broke down the entrance door of
the dwelling, twenty to thirty seconds after announcing their
presence, thus converting the knock-and-announce warrant into a
de facto no-knock warrant. Furthermore, the use of a so-called
flash bang explosive device by the police was factually
unwarranted, and rendered a nullity the warrant's knock-andannounce
condition imposed by the court.
