State v. Horngren

In State v. Horngren (Wis.App. 2000) 2000 WI App 177, the authorities were called to an apartment to investigate a possible suicide threat. They found the front door unlocked, and entered. Officers restrained one occupant, and conducted a sweep of the premises for other occupants, seeing marijuana in plain view in the course of the sweep. (Horngren, supra, at p. 510.) The Wisconsin Court of Appeals, citing the lead opinion in Ray, upheld the warrantless entry, and the subsequent denial of a suppression motion, under the community caretaking exception. (Id. at p. 513.) Thus, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals followed, as persuasive authority, the lead opinion and concurring opinion of the California Supreme Court in People v. Ray (1999) 21 Cal.4th 464.