Can a second set of officers enter a home and seize evidence in plain view without a warrant?

In Wofford v. State of Arkansas, supra, there was a second set of officers who entered the home and seized evidence in plain view. The court held the search was valid and relied on La Fournier v. State of Wisconsin, 91 Wis. 2d 61 (Sup. Ct. 1979), where that court found that where the police enter a home under the emergency exception, but are unable to preserve the evidence they observed in plain view, they are entitled to enter a second time without a warrant, even though the emergency has passed, if the search is restricted to securing the evidence in plain view by the officers who entered under the emergency exception.

In Hodge v. State of Arkansas, 332 Ark. 377 (Sup. Ct. 1998), the court found the initial entry was valid based on exigent circumstances and held that the officers could seize whatever was in plain view. However, any subsequent search and seizure was limited to that which was in plain view when police entered in response to the emergency. The court distinguished the case from Mitchell v. State, 294 Ark. 264 (Sup. Ct. 1988), on the basis of the more serious circumstances. In Hodge, there was evidence that the family was missing, the accused stated they were dead and were in the house for several days, and the accused refused entry to an inner room. In regards to the smell, the officers may have suspected they would encounter a “dead body or two”, but it was not inconceivable that someone was alive.