Source: https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-camacho-32090
Timestamp: 2020-08-12 07:40:29
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Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 11351', '§ 13', '§ 2', '§ 647', '§ 2', '§ 10', '§ 2', '§ 2', '§ 28']

People v. Camacho - 23 Cal.4th 824 S075720 - Thu, 07/27/2000 | California Supreme Court Resources
Home > Opinions > People v. Camacho
Citation 23 Cal.4th 824
People v. Camacho (2000) 23 Cal.4th 824 , 98 Cal.Rptr.2d 232; 3 P.3d 878
(The Court of Appeal, Second Dist., Div. Six, No. FFN_218008.)
Daniel E. Lungren and Bill Lockyer, Attorneys General, Robert R. Anderson, Acting Chief Assistant Attorney General, George Williamson and David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Carol Wendelin Pollack, Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth C. Byrne, Martin L. Pitha and Gary Lieberman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. [23 Cal.4th 827]
Police in this case looked through a window and observed defendant packaging cocaine in his home. The officers made this [23 Cal.4th 828] observation while standing in defendant's side yard, a place they had no legal right to be. The Court of Appeal held the police violated defendant's right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and, accordingly, concluded the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress the evidence against him. We affirm.
The window, which was open a few inches, had no blinds, curtains or other covering. Officer Mora, standing in the darkened side yard outside the window, heard music coming from the stereo inside the room, although the music was not loud. A red light bulb dimly lit the room. Returning to the front of the house, Mora reported to Officer Wood that he had seen a man in a room but was unsure whether the man was committing a crime. The two [23 Cal.4th 829] officers proceeded together back through the side yard to the window. There, Officer Wood saw defendant, sitting with his back to the window, manipulating some clear plastic baggies. Wood saw several baggies with a white powdery substance on the bed and dresser in the room, as well as a cellular phone and a pager. The officers retreated to the front of the house, called for backup, returned to the side yard and entered the house through the window, whereupon they arrested defendant.
Defendant was charged with possession of a controlled substance (cocaine) for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351.) He moved to suppress the evidence, relying on Lorenzana v. Superior Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 626 [108 Cal.Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33] (Lorenzana). The trial court denied the motion to suppress, observing: "Well, I think the key to the analysis, the important key, and that's using Lorenzana, is the expectation of privacy. [¶] And I don't think there can be an expectation of privacy on the initial threshold because, in looking at this window, even with the lights on, to me, an expectation of privacy is what the defendant in Lorenzana had because he had his window really covered and the officer had to get within five to six inches and look through a little, tiny slot. In other words, the window was opaque.
"And I think you can probably argue, explicitly, they had a right to try to look to find the music. So I think the key to the defendant's expectation of privacy—I think he gave it away by at least not having the blinds closed. [¶] If, in fact, the blinds were closed—I would look at it differently—and the officer had to go up to the window and peer down and look through a one-inch opening. Just walking by this window you can see fairly well ...."
[1] The Fourth Amendment provides "[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated ...." (U.S. Const., 4th Amend.) This guarantee has been incorporated into the Fourteenth Amendment to the federal Constitution and is applicable to the states. (See Mapp v. [23 Cal.4th 830] Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643 [81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081] [federal exclusionary rule applicable to the states].) A similar guarantee against unreasonable government searches is set forth in the state Constitution (Cal. Const., art. I, § 13) but, since voter approval of Proposition 8 in June 1982, state and federal claims relating to exclusion of evidence on grounds of unreasonable search and seizure are measured by the same standard. (In re Tyrell J. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 68, 76 [32 Cal.Rptr.2d 33, 876 P.2d 519]; In re Lance W. (1985) 37 Cal.3d 873, 886-887 [210 Cal.Rptr. 631, 694 P.2d 744].) "Our state Constitution thus forbids the courts to order the exclusion of evidence at trial as a remedy for an unreasonable search and seizure unless that remedy is required by the federal Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court." (In re Tyrell J., supra, at p. 76.) fn. 1
[2] In reviewing the action of the lower courts, we will uphold those factual findings of the trial court that are supported by substantial evidence. The question of whether a search was unreasonable, however, is a question of law. On that issue, we exercise "independent judgment." (People v. Leyba (1981) 29 Cal.3d 591, 597 [174 Cal.Rptr. 867, 629 P.2d 961]; People v. Memro (1995) 11 Cal.4th 786, 838 [47 Cal.Rptr.2d 219, 905 P.2d 1305].) Because the officers lacked a warrant, the People bore the burden of establishing either that no search occurred, or that the search undertaken by the officers was justified by some exception to the warrant requirement. (See Vale v. Louisiana (1970) 399 U.S. 30, 34 [90 S.Ct. 1969, 1971-1972, 26 L.Ed.2d 409]; People v. Rios (1976) 16 Cal.3d 351, 355 [128 Cal.Rptr. 5, 546 P.2d 293].)
[3] The "ultimate standard set forth in the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness" (Cady v. Dombrowski (1973) 413 U.S. 433, 439 [93 S.Ct. 2523, 2527, 37 L.Ed.2d 706]), and, after Katz v. United States (1967) 389 U.S. 347 [88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576] (Katz), we ask two threshold questions. First, [23 Cal.4th 831] did the defendant exhibit a subjective expectation of privacy? Second, is such an expectation objectively reasonable, that is, is the expectation that one society is willing to recognize as reasonable? (Bond v. United States (2000) 529 U.S. 334, 337-338 [120 S.Ct. 1462, 1464-1465, 146 L.Ed.2d 365, 370] (Bond); California v. Ciraolo (1986) 476 U.S. 207, 211 [106 S.Ct. 1809, 1811-1812, 90 L.Ed.2d 210] (Ciraolo).) [4a] Although the trial court's finding on the first point is obscure, we conclude defendant exhibited a subjective expectation of privacy, in that he did not expect people to be intruding onto his private property at 11:00 p.m. and looking into his windows. (Cf. Bond, supra, 529 U.S. at p. 337 [120 S.Ct. at p. 1464, 146 L.Ed.2d at p. 369] ["physically invasive inspection is simply more intrusive than purely visual inspection"].) We thus turn to address whether, under all the facts, defendant's expectation of privacy was objectively reasonable.
[5] "At the risk of belaboring the obvious, private residences are places in which the individual normally expects privacy free of governmental intrusion not authorized by a warrant, and that expectation is plainly one that society is prepared to recognize as justifiable." (United States v. Karo (1984) 468 U.S. 705, 714 [104 S.Ct. 3296, 3303, 82 L.Ed.2d 530].) Indeed, "the 'physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed.' " (Payton v. New York (1980) 445 U.S. 573, 585 [100 S.Ct. 1371, 1379, 63 L.Ed.2d 639], quoting United States v. United States District Court (1972) 407 U.S. 297, 313 [92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752].) A central principle of the Fourth Amendment is that a person may "retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion." (Silverman v. United States (1961) 365 U.S. 505, 511 [81 S.Ct. 679, 683, 5 L.Ed.2d 734, 97 A.L.R.2d 1277].)
[4b] Officers Wood and Mora were not, of course, standing on a public thoroughfare when they observed defendant packaging cocaine; they were in his yard. Nevertheless, their observations would not constitute a search (in [23 Cal.4th 832] the constitutional sense) and thus not violate the Fourth Amendment if they were standing in a place where they otherwise had a right to be. (Ciraolo, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 213 [106 S.Ct. at pp. 1812-1813].) This case thus turns on whether Officers Wood and Mora were legally entitled, under all the circumstances, to be in defendant's side yard.
We addressed this precise point in Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d 626. In that case, the police, responding to an anonymous tip about drug dealing at the defendant's home, went into the side yard of his house. As here, the side yard was an otherwise barren, grass-covered patch of land bearing neither a fence, gate, landscaping nor a path to indicate that the public was expressly or implicitly invited in. Unlike in this case, when the investigating police officer in Lorenzana entered the side yard, he found the window largely obscured by drawn curtains. Undeterred, he crouched down and looked through a two-inch gap between the curtains and the windowsill, but could not see into the room until his face was five or six inches from the window. The officer watched and listened for 15 minutes; in this manner, he acquired evidence of drug dealing and made the arrest.
[6] "[A] resident of a house [may] rely justifiably upon the privacy of the surrounding areas as a protection from the peering of the officer unless such residence is 'exposed' to that intrusion by the existence of public pathways or other invitations to the public to enter upon the property. This justifiable reliance on the privacy of the non-common portions of the property surrounding one's residence thus leads to the particular rule that searches conducted without a warrant from such parts of the property always are unconstitutional unless an exception to the warrant requirement applies." (Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 638, italics omitted; see 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure (3d ed. 1996) Protected Areas and Interests, § 2.3(c), pp. 480 & fn. 65, 485-486 [citing Lorenzana with approval].) [23 Cal.4th 833]
None of the cases cited by respondent support a contrary conclusion. All either involve the police making observations from a public vantage point (e.g., People v. Berutko (1969) 71 Cal.2d 84, 88 [77 Cal.Rptr. 217, 453 P.2d 721] (Berutko) [front of apartment building]; United States v. Hersh (9th Cir. 1972) 464 F.2d 228, 229 (per curiam) [front porch of home]), pose distinguishable facts (Bielicki v. Superior Court (1962) 57 Cal.2d 602, 604 [21 Cal.Rptr. 552, 371 P.2d 288] [observation of public toilet stalls from a hole in the ceiling]) or are silent as to whether the police were standing in a place open to the public (People v. Willard (1965) 238 Cal.App.2d 292, 297 [47 Cal.Rptr. 734] [police entered open gate, stepped on porch to back door and looked through screen door]; People v. Martin (1955) 45 Cal.2d 755, 758 [290 P.2d 855] [police looked through rear window of small office building]).
Thus, while it is certainly true that " 'in striking a balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of law enforcement, the Fourth Amendment itself [does not] draw[] the blinds the occupant could have drawn but did not' " (Berutko, supra, "71 Cal.2d at p. 93, italics omitted, [23 Cal.4th 834] quoting State v. Smith (1962) 37 N.J. 481, 496 [181 A.2d 761]), that pithy statement was made in the context of an observation by police who were standing in a location to which the public was invited, i.e., the front of an apartment building (Berutko, supra, at p. 88). Accordingly, neither Berutko nor the other cases respondent cites create an "unshuttered window" exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement that supersedes Lorenzana's reliance on the fact that police were not entitled to be in the defendant's side yard.
Respondent and the dissent also argue Lorenzana is distinguishable because the officers in that case were directed to the house by a tip of drug dealing, and thus were investigating the very crime they ultimately discovered. By contrast, Officers Wood and Mora were investigating a noise complaint, had not targeted defendant's house for surveillance, and only by accident—characterized by the dissent in the Court of Appeal as a "luck out arrest"—discovered defendant packaging cocaine.
The high court accorded no weight to the police officer's motive, relying solely on the fact the officer's vantage point was open to the public. "That the observation from aircraft was directed at identifying the plants and the officers were trained to recognize marijuana is irrelevant.... Any member of the public flying in this airspace who glanced down could have seen [23 Cal.4th 835] everything that these officers observed. On this record, we readily conclude that respondent's expectation that his garden was protected from such observation is unreasonable and is not an expectation that society is prepared to honor." (Ciraolo, supra, 476 U.S. at pp. 213-214 [106 S.Ct. at p. 1813], fn. omitted.) Similarly, we fail to see why the fact that Officers Wood and Mora entered defendant's side yard for reasons unrelated to seeking evidence of drug sales should be relevant to determining the reasonableness of defendant's expectation of privacy. fn. 2
Nevertheless, we cannot accept the proposition that defendant forfeited the expectation his property would remain private simply because he did not erect an impregnable barrier to access. Recalling that the lodestar of our inquiry is the reasonableness of defendant's expectation of privacy, we assume for the sake of argument the meter reader or the child chasing a ball or pet may have implied consent to enter the yard for that narrow reason, for a limited time, and during a reasonable hour. Certainly the same cannot be said for the unconsented-to intrusion by police at 11:00 o'clock at night. (See Pen. Code, § 647, subd. (i) [a person commits misdemeanor of disorderly conduct "[w]ho, while loitering, prowling, or wandering upon the private property of another, at any time, peeks in the door or window of any inhabited building or structure, without visible or lawful business with the owner or occupant"]; see also Bond, supra, 529 U.S. at pp. 337-338 [120 S.Ct. at pp. 1464-1465, 146 L.Ed.2d at p. 370] [placing one's baggage in the overhead compartment in a bus, where other passengers may touch and move it, does not relinquish the expectation of privacy in the bag's contents, such that police may feel the bag in an exploratory manner to try and determine its contents].) [23 Cal.4th 836]
In short, we find this case is governed by Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d 626. Although Lorenzana was decided prior to the enactment of Proposition 8 in [23 Cal.4th 837] 1982, no post-Lorenzana decision by the United States Supreme Court casts any doubt on its primary reliance on the public or private nature of the police officer's vantage point as a controlling factor in determining the lawfulness of the officer's warrantless observations of citizens' conduct inside the privacy of their homes. (See In re Tyrell J., supra, 8 Cal.4th at p. 79 [Prop. 8 constrains this court to follow Supreme Court decisions; those of lower federal courts are persuasive but not controlling].) Significantly, respondent does not cite any Supreme Court authority requiring we uphold the trial court's denial of defendant's suppression motion.
Nor are we persuaded by the lower federal court decisions cited by the dissent in support. First, none is as close to the facts of this case as Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d 626. Second, of those that indicate the site of the observation, most pose distinguishable facts, in that the observations were made from arguably public areas. (U.S. v. Taylor (4th Cir. 1996) 90 F.3d 903 [front porch]; U.S. v. James (7th Cir. 1994) 40 F.3d 850 [paved walkway along the side of a house]; U.S. v. Evans (7th Cir. 1994) 27 F.3d 1219 [driveway].) In short, none of the cited lower federal court cases convince us to abandon our decision in Lorenzana.
As noted, if the facts were different, perhaps only slightly so, we might conclude the officers were entitled to enter defendant's yard, thereby validating the lawfulness of their observations of defendant through his bedroom [23 Cal.4th 838] window. The lateness of the hour, the relative lack of seriousness of the phoned-in complaint, and the failure first to knock on defendant's front door, all are relevant to evaluating the reasonableness of the officers' conduct in this case. We cannot say, however, that the officers, having arrived at defendant's house close to midnight in response to an anonymous complaint of a loud party and perceiving nothing amiss, were entitled to enter defendant's private property without a warrant and look through his windows. To the contrary, we find defendant's expectation that no one would be in his side yard so late at night was a reasonable one.
Finally, although the line we draw today lets an unquestionably guilty man go free, we observe that "constitutional lines have to be drawn, and on one side of every one of them is an otherwise sympathetic case that provokes impatience with the Constitution and with the line. But constitutional lines are the price of constitutional government." (Agostini v. Felton (1997) 521 U.S. 203, 254 [117 S.Ct. 1997, 2026, 138 L.Ed.2d 391] (dis. opn. of Souter, J.).)
I write separately because although the "two threshold questions" (maj. opn., ante, at p. 830) derived from Justice Harlan's concurring opinion in Katz v. United States (1967) 389 U.S. 347, 360 [88 S.Ct. 507, 516, 19 L.Ed.2d 576], may confirm that the majority reaches the correct result in this case, this reference should not be read to imply that Fourth Amendment analysis invariably proceeds from a determination "first [whether] a person [has] exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy and, second, [whether] the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as 'reasonable.' " (Id. at p. 361 [88 S.Ct. at p. 516] (conc. opn. of Harlan, J.).) This formula does not serve as an all-purpose or universally applicable template for assessing every challenged search or seizure. (See Amsterdam, Perspectives on the Fourth Amendment (1974) 58 Minn. L.Rev. 349, 385.) Rather, its utility is generally limited to issues concerning whether the place searched or the manner in which police officers conducted the search gave rise to an infringement of the defendant's right to be free of unreasonable governmental intrusions. (See, e.g., Bond v. United States (2000) 529 U.S. [23 Cal.4th 839] 334, 338 [120 S.Ct. 1462, 1465, 146 L.Ed.2d 365] [manipulation of defendant's carry-on luggage located in overhead storage space]; O'Connor v. Ortega (1987) 480 U.S. 709, 716 [107 S.Ct. 1492, 1497, 94 L.Ed.2d 714] [search of defendant's workplace]; see also California v. Ciraolo (1986) 476 U.S. 207, 211 [106 S.Ct. 1809, 1811-1812, 90 L.Ed.2d 210] [plain view observation of defendant's fenced backyard from airplane 1,000 feet overhead not search in constitutional sense]; Rakas v. Illinois (1978) 439 U.S. 128, 143 [99 S.Ct. 421, 430, 58 L.Ed.2d 387] [finding Katz "provides guidance in defining the scope of the interest protected by the Fourth Amendment" for purposes of determining whether defendant may contest search or seizure]; see generally 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure (3d ed. 1996) Protected Areas and Interests, § 2.1, pp. 375-395.)
Outside this context, the analytical framework articulated in Katz may not always yield results consistent with Fourth Amendment guarantees. For example, in In re Tyrell J. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 68 [32 Cal.Rptr.2d 33, 876 P.2d 519], involving a search of the defendant's person, the majority's invocation of the Katz two-part inquiry led to the conclusion that because the defendant was a juvenile probationer subject to a search condition, he therefore had no reasonable expectation of privacy. Thus, the officer's ignorance of the condition when he searched was of no constitutional moment. (Id. at pp. 83-86; see also In re Marcellus L. (1991) 229 Cal.App.3d 134, 145 [279 Cal.Rptr. 901].) Whether, as characterized by Professor LaFave, this reasoning is "bizarre" (4 LaFave, Search and Seizure, supra, Inspections § 10.10(e), p. 792), it is certainly constitutionally suspect. (See In re Tyrell J., supra, 8 Cal.4th 69, 90-99 (dis. opn. of Kennard, J.); see generally People v. Woods (1999) 21 Cal.4th 668, 692-696 [88 Cal.Rptr.2d 88, 981 P.2d 1019] (dis. opn. of Brown, J.); see also Comment, Fourth Amendment Protection for Juvenile Probationers in California, Slim or None?: In re Tyrell J. (1995) 22 Hastings Const. L.Q. 893.)
Moreover, as this case illustrates, even when a case involves the search of a place, the Katz approach may be entirely unnecessary to determine whether it was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. As the majority acknowledges, "We addressed this precise point in Lorenzana [v. Superior Court (1973)] 9 Cal.3d 626 [108 Cal.Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33]." (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 832.) In Lorenzana, the court resolved the question on the well-established principle that the lawfulness of an officer's plain view observations depends upon whether he made them from a place where he had the right to be. fn. 1 (Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d at pp. 631-636; see, e.g., Horton v. California [23 Cal.4th 840] (1990) 496 U.S. 128, 136 [110 S.Ct. 2301, 2307-2308, 110 L.Ed.2d 112]; California v. Ciraolo, supra, 476 U.S. at p. 213 [106 S.Ct. at pp. 1812-1813].) On the present facts, this analysis is more than adequate to determine whether the officers acted lawfully.
This case presents the question whether the Fourth Amendment mandates the suppression of evidence obtained when law enforcement officers, in responding to a late-night complaint of unduly loud noise at a residence and attempting to ascertain the location from which the noise emanated, entered a shallow, unenclosed side yard adjacent to the residence and observed—through a large, completely uncovered first-story window—criminal activity within the residence. The trial court determined that the evidence should not be suppressed, but a majority of this court disagrees, concluding that because there was no sidewalk or pathway implicitly inviting the public to enter the side yard, the police officers observed defendant's activity from a place where they assertedly "had no legal right to be" (maj. opn., ante, at p. 828) and, as a consequence, that the actions of the police constituted an unlawful search.
Although the majority insists that its determination that the officers' conduct violated defendant's constitutional rights is not based "merely [on the circumstance that the officers] were trespassing on defendant's private property" (maj. opn., ante, at p. 836), the majority's holding can be rationalized only through an inflexible application of trespass doctrine rather than under the "reasonable expectation of privacy" standard that properly governs the application of the Fourth Amendment's proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. In view of the location and configuration of defendant's residence, the open and easily accessible nature of the side yard, the large (eight-by-four-foot) uncovered window facing the side yard, and defendant's failure to take even minimal measures—such as shielding the window with curtains, blinds, or even a makeshift cover—that would have been taken by a reasonable person concerned with protecting his or her privacy, I believe the trial court properly found that defendant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to activities that were plainly visible through the uncovered window. Further, in view of the factual circumstances of the present case, I believe that the trial court properly concluded that the brief time spent by the officers in the open side yard of the residence, not for the purpose of surveillance but simply to attempt to identify the location of the noise that had prompted the complaint to the police, was not unreasonable under the circumstances.
In resting its conclusion largely on the circumstance that the police officers observed defendant's criminal conduct from "a place they had no [23 Cal.4th 841] legal right to be" (maj. opn., ante, at p. 828), the majority ignores the teaching of a number of recent federal decisions that have recognized that "legitimate police business may occasionally take officers to parts of the premises not ordinarily used by visitors" (1 LaFave, Search and Seizure (3d ed. 1996) Protected Areas and Interests, § 2.3(f), p. 509, citing cases), and that "[t]he ultimate focus of Fourth Amendment analysis [is not whether police conduct amounts to a trespass, but] whether the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched." (U.S. v. Fields (2d Cir. 1997) 113 F.3d 313, 322.) As these cases demonstrate, because defendant failed to take even minimal steps to shield his actions from being viewed from an area where he could reasonably anticipate that a neighbor or other member of the public might venture, the police conduct here did not infringe upon a reasonable expectation of privacy and, consequently, suppression of the evidence is not warranted.
In considering whether challenged police conduct violates the Fourth Amendment, the threshold question a court must address is whether the police conduct amounted to a search or seizure, because not every observation made by a law enforcement officer constitutes a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. (Illinois v. Andreas (1983) 463 U.S. 765, 771 [103 S.Ct. 3319, 3324, 77 L.Ed.2d 1003].) As the United States Supreme Court has explained: "A 'search' occurs when an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to consider reasonable is infringed." (United States v. Jacobsen (1984) 466 U.S. 109, 113 [104 S.Ct. 1652, 1656, 80 L.Ed.2d 85]; see also Illinois v. Andreas, supra, 463 U.S. at p. 771 [103 S.Ct. at p. 3324] ["If the inspection by police does not intrude upon a legitimate expectation of privacy, there is no 'search' ...."].)
As the majority correctly observes, individuals ordinarily possess the highest expectation of privacy within their homes, an area that typically is "afforded the most stringent Fourth Amendment protection." (United States v. Martinez-Fuerte (1976) 428 U.S. 543, 561 [96 S.Ct. 3074, 3084, 49 L.Ed.2d 1116].) But the circumstance that defendant was located within his residence when the police officers observed him is not itself sufficient to render the observation a search for Fourth Amendment purposes, because, as [23 Cal.4th 842] the United States Supreme Court has noted, "[w]hat a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection." (Katz v. United States (1967) 389 U.S. 347, 351 [88 S.Ct. 507, 511, 19 L.Ed.2d 576], italics added; see also California v. Greenwood (1988) 486 U.S. 35, 41 [108 S.Ct. 1625, 1629, 100 L.Ed.2d 30] ["the police cannot reasonably be expected to avert their eyes from evidence of criminal activity that could have been observed by any member of the public"]; U.S. v. Garcia (9th Cir. 1993) 997 F.2d 1273, 1279 [there is "no search, and hence no Fourth Amendment violation, ... when officers observed criminal activity with the naked eye from a vantage point accessible to the general public"].)
Recently, in Bond v. United States (2000) 529 U.S. 334, 338 [120 S.Ct. 1462, 1465, 146 L.Ed.2d 365], the United States Supreme Court held: "Our Fourth Amendment analysis embraces two questions. First, we ask whether the individual, by his conduct, has exhibited an actual expectation of privacy; that is, whether he has shown that 'he [sought] to preserve [something] as private.' [Citation.] ... Second, we inquire whether the individual's expectation of privacy is 'one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable.' [Citation, fn. omitted.]"
Although the United States Supreme Court has yet to render a decision directly on point regarding a factual situation similar to the one presented [23 Cal.4th 843] here, a number of lower federal court decisions addressing analogous circumstances have concluded that when a defendant has conducted activities in plain view of an area to which other persons (e.g., cotenants or members of the public) have access and reasonably can be expected to visit at least occasionally, without the defendant's taking reasonable steps to shield his or her activities from such view, police observations of the defendant's activities do not infringe upon a reasonable expectation of privacy and therefore do not violate the Fourth Amendment. Although we are not bound by the decisions of the lower federal courts, "they are persuasive and entitled to great weight." (People v. Bradley (1969) 1 Cal.3d 80, 86 [81 Cal.Rptr. 457, 460 P.2d 129].) Inexplicably, however, the majority pays scant attention to these decisions. (See, e.g., U.S. v. Fields, supra, 113 F.3d 313 [no search where police officers entered fenced-in side yard of apartment house and looked through fiveto six-inch gap below venetian blinds into defendant's illuminated bedroom, because defendant's activity was deemed to be in plain view of a common area accessible to other tenants]; U.S. v. Taylor (4th Cir. 1996) 90 F.3d 903, 908-909 [not a search for officer to look through picture window located on front porch of defendant's residence]; U.S. v. James (7th Cir. 1994) 40 F.3d 850, 861-862 [no search where police officer used a paved walkway along the side of the duplex leading to the rear side door, observing contraband on the table through the dining room window]; U.S. v. Evans (7th Cir. 1994) 27 F.3d 1219, 1228-1229 [looking into the defendant's house from driveway did not constitute a search, because there was no evidence that the public's access to the defendant's driveway was limited]; U.S. v. Garcia, supra, 997 F.2d at pp. 1279-1280 [upholding entrance onto back porch of apartment]; U.S. v. Daoust (1st Cir. 1990) 916 F.2d 757, 758 [police officers, who found the front door of the defendant's house inaccessible, did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they proceeded to the rear, in search of another entrance]; United States v. Ventling (8th Cir. 1982) 678 F.2d 63, 66 [no reasonable expectation of privacy in driveway and area around front porch, where observations were made in public view]; United States v. Wheeler (9th Cir. 1981) 641 F.2d 1321, 1327 [defendant "diminished his legitimate expectation of privacy" by failing to cover a gap of one inch between a solid six-foot wooden fence and garage wall]; United States v. Johnson (D.C. Cir. 1977) 561 F.2d 832, 835 [182 App. D.C. 383] [acting upon an anonymous tip regarding the presence of illegal narcotics within a residence, a police officer veered a few feet from the walkway that led to the front door, and peered from the adjacent grassy area through an unobstructed window]; United States v. Anderson (8th Cir. 1977) 552 F.2d 1296, 1298-1300 [following the unanswered knock of federal agents at the front door, the agents walked along the side of the house and, glancing through a partially covered basement window, discovered numerous stolen television sets]; United States v. Conner (7th Cir. 1973) 478 F.2d 1320, 1323 [emphasizing that even if the police officer's observations were made from the [23 Cal.4th 844] concrete apron outside the rear door of the defendant's garage, the apron abutted a public alley and therefore the defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy]; see also 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure, supra, Protected Areas and Interests, § 2.3(f), p. 509 ["[L]egitimate police business may occasionally take officers to parts of the premises not ordinarily used by visitors." (Fn. omitted, italics added.)]; but see State of Texas v. Gonzales (5th Cir. 1968) 388 F.2d 145, 147 [police have no right to look through window simply to see if drug activity is taking place]; People of State of California v. Hurst (9th Cir. 1963) 325 F.2d 891, 893, 898 [in response to an anonymous tip regarding the illegal possession of marijuana, police officer who "peered through" a bathroom window on the side of the defendant's residence held to have unlawfully invaded the defendant's privacy]; Brock v. United States (5th Cir. 1955) 223 F.2d 681, 685 [in the course of investigating an illicit still, federal revenue agents improperly appeared outside the defendant's bedroom window]; United States v. Johnson, supra, 561 F.2d 832, 847 (conc. opn. of Leventhal, J.) ["In my view while Fourth Amendment protection would not extend to observations by persons using the paved way from the sidewalk to the door of the house, it would likely extend to evidence obtained by walking onto the lawn around the house and then peering into windows" (fn. omitted)].)
Many of the federal court decisions cited above involve observations from front or back porches or paved paths to which the public had been implicitly invited (see, e.g., U.S. v. Taylor, supra, 90 F.3d 903 [front porch]; U.S. v. James, supra, 40 F.3d 850 [paved walkway]; U.S. v. Garcia, supra, 997 F.2d 1273 [back porch]; and U.S. v. Daoust, supra, 916 F.2d 757 [back of the house]), but in other instances the observations were made from other areas of the premises that were not implicitly open to the public but as to which cotenants or other members of the public foreseeably might enter. (See, e.g., U.S. v. Fields, supra, 113 F.3d 313 [observation made from fenced-in side yard accessible to cotenants]; U.S. v. Evans, supra, 27 F.3d 1219 [observation made from driveway]; United States v. Johnson, supra, 561 F.2d 832 [observation made from a location a short distance from walkway]; United States v. Anderson, supra, 552 F.2d 1296 [observation made from side of house]; United States v. Conner, supra, 478 F.2d 1320 [observation made from unfenced "apron" adjoining public alley]; United States v. Wheeler, supra, 641 F.2d 1321 [observations made through and over yard fence].) These cases conclude that when a defendant has not taken reasonable steps to shield his or her conduct from observation from a location where the defendant reasonably could anticipate that others might be present, the defendant does not harbor a reasonable expectation of privacy, and that police discovery of illegal conduct from such a location does not constitute an unconstitutional search or seizure even if the police entry into the location [23 Cal.4th 845] amounts to a technical trespass. (See, e.g., U.S. v. Fields, supra, 113 F.3d 313.)
In rejecting the defendants' contention that the evidence should have been suppressed, the Second Circuit observed in Fields: "In the case at hand defendants conducted their illegal activities in plain view of a bedroom window facing onto the side yard—a common area accessible to the other tenants in the multi-family apartment building—in which they had no legitimate expectation of privacy. [Citation.] Although there was a plainly visible five-to six-inch gap beneath the venetian blinds, defendants took no steps to close it. Their illegal activities, conducted in a well-lit room after dark, could therefore readily be seen by anyone standing in the side yard. [¶] ... Although police observations made when trespassing are usually improper, it is not the trespass itself which renders them unlawful. Instead, such observations generally violate Fourth Amendment rights simply because those observed cannot reasonably anticipate observation from vantage points obtained by trespassing. In such circumstances, society frequently respects as reasonable the expectation that such observations will not occur. The ultimate focus of Fourth Amendment analysis remains whether the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched. [(Katz v. United States, supra, 389 U.S. 347, 360 [88 S.Ct. 507, 516] (conc. opn. of, Harlan, J.).)] Here, by conducting their activities in plain view of an area where others were free to come and go, defendants failed to demonstrate such an expectation. [¶] ... [¶]
"In sum, although the defendants could easily have shielded their activities from public view, they failed to take the simple and obvious steps [23 Cal.4th 846] necessary to do so. By exposing their illicit cocaine activities to the side yard—a place where they should have anticipated that other persons might have a right to be—defendants failed to exhibit a subjective expectation that they intended their dealings in the bedroom to be private. Hence, the police observations did not violate defendants' Fourth Amendment rights...." (U.S. v. Fields, supra, 113 F.3d at pp. 321-322; see also United States v. Conner, supra, 478 F.2d 1320, 1323 [emphasizing that even if the police officer's observations were made from the concrete apron outside the rear door of the defendant's garage, the apron abutted a public alley and therefore the defendant lacked any reasonable expectation of privacy].)
The foregoing cases, determining that police conduct does not necessarily violate the Fourth Amendment even if such conduct constitutes a trespass, are consistent with numerous United States Supreme Court decisions that have "emphatically rejected the notion that 'arcane' concepts of property law ought to control ... the protections of the Fourth Amendment." (Rawlings v. Kentucky (1980) 448 U.S. 98, 105 [100 S.Ct. 2556, 2562, 65 L.Ed.2d 633], italics added; Katz v. United States, supra, 389 U.S. 347; accord, United States v. Conner, supra, 478 F.2d 1320, 1323 ["Even if the officers were on the apron, which was not fenced off from the alley, we think that a mere 'technical trespass' did not transform an otherwise reasonable investigation into an unreasonable search."]; People v. Bradley, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 84 [observing that the Katz analysis is superior to those cases in which a conclusion is reached based upon whether the place was a constitutionally protected area].) Instead, the critical inquiry is whether the police conduct improperly intrudes upon an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to consider as reasonable. (Bond v. United States, supra, 529 U.S. at p. 338 [120 S.Ct. at p. 1465].) I believe the relevant precedents establish that when, as here, a person fails to take even minimal measures to shield his or her activities from casual observation from a location so open to, and readily accessible by, the public, police observation from such a location does not intrude upon a reasonable expectation of privacy and thus does not violate the Fourth Amendment. (Accord, State v. Smith (1962) 37 N.J. 481, 496 [181 A.2d 761, 769] ["[W]e cannot say that in striking a balance between the rights of the individual and the needs of law enforcement, the Fourth Amendment itself draws the blinds the occupant could have drawn but did not"].)
The Fourth Amendment's guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures is echoed in article I, section 13, of our state Constitution. Prior to the California electorate's passage of Proposition 8 in June of 1982, the [23 Cal.4th 847] validity of a government search could be determined on independent state grounds. Proposition 8 added section 28, subdivision (d), to article I of the California Constitution. That section states, in part: "Except as provided by statute hereafter enacted by a two-thirds vote of the membership in each house of the Legislature, relevant evidence shall not be excluded in any criminal proceeding ...." Proposition 8 thus abrogated a defendant's right to object to, and move to suppress, evidence seized in violation of the California, but not the federal, Constitution. (In re Lance W. (1985) 37 Cal.3d 873, 879 [210 Cal.Rptr. 631, 694 P.2d 744].) As a result, state and federal claims relating to the exclusion of evidence on the basis of unreasonable search and seizure now are reviewed under the same standard, and a court may exclude evidence challenged on the basis that it was obtained as a result of an unreasonable search or seizure "only if exclusion is also mandated by the federal exclusionary rule applicable to evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment." (Id. at pp. 886-887, 896.) As stated by the majority, " 'Our state Constitution thus forbids the courts to order the exclusion of evidence at trial as a remedy for an unreasonable search and seizure unless that remedy is required by the federal Constitution as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court.' " (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 830.)
Unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court has yet to address the precise sort of factual scenario presented here, involving a routine, nonexigent investigation conducted by law enforcement officers in response to a legitimate request for assistance. Accordingly, in the wake of Proposition 8, the proper alternative for this court is to look to the lower federal courts for guidance. (See People v. Luttenberger (1990) 50 Cal.3d 1, 9 [265 Cal.Rptr. 690, 784 P.2d 633] ["Thus, California courts now must follow federal exclusionary principles in resolving motions to suppress evidence in criminal trials" (italics added)].) As noted previously, although the decisions rendered by the lower federal courts are not binding upon this court, "they are persuasive and entitled to great weight." (People v. Bradley, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 86.) Rather than look to these federal decisions, however, the majority relies heavily on this court's pre-Proposition 8 decision in Lorenzana v. Superior Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 626 [108 Cal.Rptr. 585, 511 P.2d 33] (Lorenzana). Even Lorenzana, however, is clearly distinguishable from this case.
In Lorenzana, law enforcement officers received information from a confidential reliable informant that an individual was selling heroin from a residence located in Los Angeles. An officer was dispatched to investigate the allegation, traversed a grassy area adjacent to the residence, and stationed himself within a few inches of a side window. The window was closed and the window shade drawn, but a gap of approximately two inches [23 Cal.4th 848] remained between the bottom of the shade and the windowsill. Standing there for approximately 15 minutes, the officer overheard an incriminating telephone conversation emanate from within the residence, and observed the defendant empty the powdery contents of a balloon onto a newspaper. Subsequently, in reliance upon the information so obtained, law enforcement officers arrested the defendant and a buyer. (Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d at pp. 629-631.)
The court in Lorenzana concluded: "In sum, the prying policeman, clandestinely peering through a two-inch aperture between drawn blinds and windowsill, standing upon trespassed property over which the public has not been expressly or impliedly invited, portrays a sorry figure who violates his subject's right of privacy—a right protected by the California and United States Constitutions and precious to a free and open society." (Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 641; accord, U.S. v. Blount (5th Cir. 1996) 98 F.3d 1489, 1495 ["We conclude and hold that when a police officer walks into the [23 Cal.4th 849] partially fenced backyard of a residential dwelling, using a passage not open to the general public, and places his face within inches of a small opening in an almost completely covered rear window to look into the house and at the inhabitants, that officer has performed a 'search' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment." (Italics added.)].)
In contrast to the defendant's conduct in Lorenzana—drawing the blinds to cover the window—which allowed the police officer to make his observations only by peering through a small aperture between the bottom of the blinds and the windowsill, here defendant left a large window completely uncovered. Because the window was located on a small side yard that was open to, and easily accessible from, the public sidewalk (with no fences, shrubbery, or signs to deter entry), the trial court properly found that defendant here, unlike the defendant in Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d 626, lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy with regard to activities that readily could be viewed through the window by a neighbor or other member of the public who happened to enter the yard briefly for an innocuous purpose. (See, e.g., U.S. v. Taylor, supra, 90 F.3d at p. 909 [noting that the absence of a fence or signage prohibiting trespassing could be considered in determining whether the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy]; U.S. v. Evans, supra, 27 F.3d at p. 1229 [in the absence of evidence that the public had limited access to the driveway of the residence, the defendant had no reasonable expectation that members of the public or law enforcement agents would refrain from entering the driveway area]; compare California v. Ciraolo (1986) 476 U.S. 207, 211 [106 S.Ct. 1809, 1811-1812, 90 L.Ed.2d 210] [observing that the placement of a 10-foot fence concealing a marijuana crop from "normal sidewalk traffic" indicated that the defendant "took normal precautions to maintain his privacy"].)
Furthermore, I note that in Lorenzana, the police entered the defendant's property for the purpose of surveillance and remained at the suspect's window for 15 minutes, observing and listening to activities conducted within the residence. Under those circumstances, which this court described as involving "the prying policeman, clandestinely peering through a two-inch aperture between drawn blinds and windowsill" (Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 641), the infringement upon the defendant's expectation of privacy was significantly greater than that presented here. By contrast, in the case now before us, the police, responding to a complaint of unduly loud noise, simply entered the side yard briefly to ascertain the source of the noise, and not for the purpose of conducting the sort of extended surveillance activities seen in Lorenzana. Bearing in mind the lateness of the nighttime hour (approximately 11:00 p.m.) and the concomitant reduction in the ability of the police officers to discern potential risks, their actions [23 Cal.4th 850] appear to exhibit prudence rather than a predisposition to pry. After the officers arrived, they heard "noise coming from the side of the house or to the rear of the house" and decided briefly to ascertain its source. The testifying officer stated that he did not knock on the front door, because "We were trying to determine at that point where the music was coming from." As a precaution, the officers refrained from remaining together during their investigation: "It was a safety decision at that time [for one officer] to stay at the front of the house while [the other officer] walked towards the side." (Italics added.)
These questions are not merely rhetorical; they suggest that arbitrary factual variables—such as a resident's laziness in failing to mow a lawn or [23 Cal.4th 851] close a gate—might alter the result under the analysis favored by the majority. The application of a rule of constitutional dimension should not depend upon such fortuitous circumstances. Yet, the majority explains, without providing meaningful guidance to police officers, that "if the facts were different, perhaps only slightly so, we might conclude the officers were entitled to enter defendant's yard, thereby validating the lawfulness of their observations of defendant through his bedroom window." (Maj. opn., ante, at pp. 837-838.)
In the wake of Proposition 8, discussed earlier in this dissenting opinion, California courts are required to follow federal exclusionary principles in resolving motions to suppress evidence in criminal trials. (People v. Luttenberger, supra, 50 Cal.3d 1, 9.) The overwhelming weight of authority makes clear that law enforcement officers who respond to an informant's tip or a neighbor's call for assistance are not required by the federal Constitution to limit their observations to the front entranceway of the residence being investigated, and that police conduct of the sort involved here does not violate the Fourth Amendment when the defendant has failed to take even minimal measures to shield his or her activities from public view from a location where other persons reasonably may be anticipated to be present. In departing from this view, the majority imposes a narrow and rigid restraint upon police conduct that elevates notions of trespass to a controlling role and fails to give proper application to the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy standard enunciated by the decisions of the United States Supreme Court.
Baxter, J., and Chin, J., concurred. [23 Cal.4th 852]
­FN *. Judge of the former Ventura Municipal Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.
­FN 1. Contrary to the suggestion in the dissent (dis. opn., post, at pp. 847-848), for this court to look to our own precedent (i.e., Lorenzana, supra, 9 Cal.3d 626) for guidance in Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is not inappropriate, notwithstanding Proposition 8. We are not bound by lower federal court decisions in this area (In re Tyrell J., supra, 8 Cal.4th at p. 79; People v. Bradley (1969) 1 Cal.3d 80, 86 [81 Cal.Rptr. 457, 460 P.2d 129]; see also Raven v. Deukmejian (1990) 52 Cal.3d 336, 352 [276 Cal.Rptr. 326, 801 P.2d 1077] [same rule for interpreting Prop. 115]), and Lorenzana addresses nearly the identical question. Although Lorenzana was decided before passage of Proposition 8, it was based expressly on both the federal and state constitutional guarantees against unreasonable searches and seizures (Lorenzana, supra, at pp. 631, 641), and thus constitutes a decision by this court on the federal constitutional issue we face in this case. Nothing in People v. Luttenberger (1990) 50 Cal.3d 1, 9 [265 Cal.Rptr. 690, 784 P.2d 633], cited by the dissent, suggests we should devalue decisions of this court construing the Fourth Amendment in favor of the views of lower federal courts from around the country merely because our decision was rendered before June 8, 1982, the effective date of Proposition 8. (See Cal. Const., art. I, § 28.)
­FN 2. In addition, respondent contends " 'suppression of the evidence here would contribute nothing to the goals of deterring police misconduct.' " (Quoting People v. Little (1973) 33 Cal.App.3d 552, 557 [109 Cal.Rptr. 196].) We disagree: Suppression of the evidence will tend to discourage police officers from engaging in warrantless nighttime intrusions into the yards of citizens and peering into the private areas of homes when police have no objective evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
­FN 3. We emphasize our decision today is not based on the simplistic notion that police violate a defendant's constitutional rights whenever they commit a technical trespass. Although the dissent attempts to recharacterize our reasoning as resting on this single consideration (dis. opn., post, at pp. 840, 841, 845, 846, 851), the attempt fails. As we explain, we balance several factors to conclude police acted unreasonably in this case.
­FN 4. We decline to reach respondent's contention the search was lawful because it occurred in the context of the police officers' " 'community caretaking function[],' " that is, that it involved a proper police activity " 'totally divorced from the detection, investigation, or acquisition of evidence relating to the violation of a criminal statute.' " (People v. Ray (1999) 21 Cal.4th 464, 467 [88 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 981 P.2d 928] (lead opn. of Brown, J.).) Respondent raised this issue for the first time in this court, making the issue inappropriate for review both because he did not raise it in the Court of Appeal (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 29(b)(1)) and also because it was not raised in the hearing on the suppression motion to justify the officers' warrantless entry onto defendant's property (People v. Ruggles (1985) 39 Cal.3d 1, 12, fn. 6 [216 Cal.Rptr. 88, 702 P.2d 170]; Mestas v. Superior Court (1972) 7 Cal.3d 537, 542 [102 Cal.Rptr. 729, 498 P.2d 977]).
­FN 1. Only after this discussion did we note that our holding "conforms to the reasoning of the United States Supreme Court's definitive decision in Katz v. United States[, supra,] 389 U.S. 347." (Lorenzana v. Superior Court, supra, 9 Cal.3d at p. 637.)
Petition for review after the Court of Appeal reversed a judgment of conviction of a criminal offense. This case concerns whether police officers violated defendant's reasonable expectation of privacy when they traversed an open, grassy, side yard while investigating a complaint of excessive noise and, through an uncovered window, observed defendant packaging drugs inside a house.
Thu, 07/27/2000 23 Cal.4th 824 S075720 Review - Criminal Appeal closed; remittitur issued
2 Camacho, Cayetano Calderon (Appellant)
Represented by Marsha D. Kennedy
567 W. Channel Islands Bl
3 Camacho, Cayetano Calderon (Appellant)
Jul 27 2000 Opinion: Affirmed
Dec 31 1998 Petition for review filed
To and Including March 31, 1999
Mar 17 1999 Petition Granted
Apr 15 1999 Opening brief on the merits filed
**Opening brief*** Respondent People
Jul 1 1999 Counsel appointment order filed
J. Courtney Shevelson for App Cayetano C. Camacho
Applt [ Camacho] to file answer brief on the merits to Sept. 1, 1999. Ok: Order Being Prepared
Jul 29 1999 Extension of Time application Granted
For Appellant [ Camacho] to file the answer brief on the merits to and Including Sept.1,1999
To 9/16/99 To file answer brief on the merits *** grant - Order in Prep ***
To Sept. 16, 1999 for Appellant To file its answer brief on the merits
Applt [ Camacho] to file the answer brief on the merits to Sept. 21, 1999.
For Appellant to file the answer brief on the merits to and Including Sept.21, 1999
Oversized (59 pages) App's answer brief/merits [40n/Cert.mail]
Sep 24 1999 Answer brief on the merits filed
Appellant'S. [Perm]
Oct 14 1999 Reply brief filed (case fully briefed)
Respondent Cayetano Calderon Camacho
Jan 10 2000 Exhibits Lodged:
Def A and B; Peo 1, Def A,B, C, and D. (11-10-97)
Atty Shelvelson
5-3-00, 1:30, S.F.
Jul 27 2000 Opinion filed: Judgment affirmed in full
Majority Opinion by Werdegar, J. -- joined by Mosk, Kennard & Brown, JJ. Concurring Opinion by Brown, J. Dissenting Opinion by George, C.J. -- joined by Baxter & Chin, JJ.
Sep 21 2000 Remittitur Issued
Oct 24 2000 Exhibits Returned to:
Nov 6 2000 Received:
receipt for exhibits from superior court.
Marsha D. Kennedy (567 W. Channel Islands Bl)
Teresa G. Torreblanca (CA)
SCOCAL, People v. Camacho , 23 Cal.4th 824 available at: (https://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/people-v-camacho-32090) (last visited Wednesday August 12, 2020).