Case Title: State v. Schlosser

Citation: 202 N.W.2d 136

Docket Number: 

State: north-dakota

Court: North Dakota Supreme Court

Date: 1972-10-31T00:00:00Z

Document:
202 N.W.2d 136 (1972) STATE of North Dakota, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Kenneth SCHLOSSER, Defendant and Appellant. Cr. No. 422. Supreme Court of North Dakota. October 31, 1972. Rehearing Denied November 29, 1972. Kent Higgins, Public Defender, Bismarck, for defendant and appellant. Helgi Johanneson, Atty. Gen., and Thomas F. Kelsch, State's Atty., Bismarck, for plaintiff and respondent. TEIGEN, Judge. Defendant is appealing from an order revoking a prior order deferring imposition of sentence and from the judgment entered after the revocation. All of the proceedings took place in the Burleigh County District Court. On August 11, 1971, the defendant pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of marijuana. The court deferred and suspended imposition of sentence and placed the defendant on probation in accordance with the provisions of Section 12-53-13, N.D.C. C. One of the conditions of the order suspending *137 the imposition of sentence (clause (3) (g)) reads as follows: On October 6, 1971, the defendant was arrested on a charge of possession of marijuana and was placed in the Burleigh County jail. Later that day he was taken from the jail by his probation officer and two law enforcement officers and was taken to his apartment in Mandan which was then searched without a warrant in his presence, resulting in the discovery and seizure of marijuana and hashish. Thereafter, at a probation revocation hearing the trial court admitted the products of the search in evidence over the objection of defense counsel that it was obtained in violation of the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights and, on October 18, 1971, it revoked the order of August 11, 1971, suspending the imposition of sentence and sentenced the defendant, upon his original plea of guilty, to imprisonment in the state penitentiary for one year. Defendant then took this appeal, contending that the evidence introduced at the probation revocation hearing was obtained in violation of his rights under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and therefore should not have been admitted. It is clear that the court has the power to impose conditions which must be complied with during the period of the suspension of imposition of sentence. The defendant does not attack the validity of this statute but contends that the condition imposed by clause (3)(g) and the resulting search violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. To answer this contention we must decide whether this clause is a reasonable exercise of the court's discretion under the authority granted by Section 12-53-13, N. D.C.C., but before this question can be answered we must determine whether a person's status as a probationer affects the protection afforded by the first provision of the Fourth Amendment that "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated." Discussing probation generally, the United States Supreme Court in Burns v. United States, 287 U.S. 216, 220, 53 S. Ct. 154, 155, 77 L. Ed. 266 (1932), an appeal from the revocation of the petitioner's probation, stated as follows: A further statement of the purpose of probation is found in Roberts v. United States, 320 U.S. 264, 272, 64 S. Ct. 113, 117, 88 L. Ed. 41 (1943): Defendant cites two cases in support of the proposition that a person on probation has the same Fourth Amendment rights as an ordinary citizen. In the first of these, United States ex rel. Lombardino v. Heyd, 318 F. Supp. 648, 650 (E.D.La.1970), the court said: The decision went on to say: The second authority cited is Martin v. United States, 183 F.2d 436, 439 (4th Cir. 1950). The court stated: Continuing, however, the court said: In neither of these cases was there a condition of probation similar to that in the present case. In Lombardino the petitioner, placed upon probation after pleading guilty to attempted simple burglary, was subject to a condition that he refrain from the violation of any law or ordinance. Evidence obtained from a warrantless search of his person was disallowed in a separate criminal prosecution for possession of marijuana but was allowed in a probation revocation hearing. In Martin the defendant was on probation after a conviction for violating federal laws relating to distilled spirits. The warrantless search of his garage was held to be reasonable, taking into consideration all of the circumstances leading up to the search, including that of defendant's status as a probationer. In People v. Mason, 5 Cal. 3d 759, 97 Cal. Rptr. 302, 488 P.2d 630, 633 (1971), the California Supreme Court answered the defendant's contention that a probation condition requiring submission to a warrantless search constitutes an unreasonable invasion of his Fourth Amendment rights as follows: The defendant Mason was on probation for the possession of marijuana and was subject to a condition of probation requiring him to "submit his person, place of residence, vehicle, to search and seizure at any time of the day or night, with or without a search warrant, whenever requested to do so by the Probation Officer or any law enforcement officer." After tracing a car suspected of being involved in a burglary to the defendant, police officers, who were aware of the above condition of probation, searched defendant's house and car without a warrant, seizing items taken in the burglary which were subsequently suppressed as evidence in a prosecution for the burglary. In setting aside the dismissal and remanding the case for trial, the California Supreme Court held that the condition of probation was "reasonable and valid, being `related to [the probationer's] reformation and rehabilitation in the light of the offense of which he was convicted.'" The test applied by the court was that laid down in People v. Dominguez, 256 Cal. App. 2d 623, 64 Cal. Rptr. 290, 293 (1967): Applying this rule in reverse, clause (3) (g) is a reasonable and valid exercise of the court's authority under Section 12-53-13, N.D.C.C. The United States Supreme Court in United States v. Biswell, 406 U.S. 311, 92 S. Ct. 1593, 32 L. Ed. 2d 87 (1972), held that a statutory authorization of a warrantless search was not violative of the Fourth Amendment: The defendant's status as a probationer does affect his rights under the Fourth Amendment. The court has a responsibility to regulate a probationer's activities to help in his rehabilitation and at the same time to guard against continued criminal behavior. The condition imposed under clause (3)(g) constitutes a reasonable and necessary element of that regulatory program which did not require the defendant's consent, and, as such, the search and seizure of the contraband from the defendant's apartment by his parole officer without a search warrant was not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and the contraband seized was admissible in a probation violation hearing. For these reasons the order and the judgment are affirmed. STRUTZ, C. J., and ERICKSTAD, PAULSON and KNUDSON, JJ., concur.