# Commonwealth v. Brass

> Massachusetts Appeals Court · January 23, 1997 · 42 Mass. App. Ct. 88

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6459841

## Case

- **Full name:** Commonwealth v. Joseph D. Brass
- **Court:** Massachusetts Appeals Court
- **Decided:** January 23, 1997
- **Citations:** 42 Mass. App. Ct. 88; 674 N.E.2d 1326; 1997 Mass. App. LEXIS 18
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Brown
- **Judges:** Brown, Ireland
- **Cited by:** 4 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6459841

## Opinion text

Brown, J.
(concurring). I concur, albeit reluctantly, because of the peculiar circumstances presented here. Motel managers (not the police) have the right, upon knocking and hearing no response, to enter a guest room a reasonable time after a clear and unambiguous indication that the guest no longer desires or can afford to stay for an additional period of time. However, there is, in my view, no permissible basis to justify entrance into a motel room, absent clear evidence of abandonment, by police officers who do not possess a properly executed warrant. Most assuredly, the officers cannot upon *93 entrance immediately commence interrogation of the occupants. 1
This is a close case, and should be limited to its particular facts. The two cases most heavily relied upon by the majority require a very generous gloss be placed upon the “plain view” doctrine, an ingredient conspicuously absent here.
I pass the question whether the warnings mandated by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 478-479 (1966), are applicable to the instant circumstances.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/6459841. Public record. Not legal advice.