Opinion ID: 216266
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Plain-View Exception

Text: Although the district court's order denying Galaviz's motion to suppress addressed only the Terry issue, we may uphold the denial of the motion to suppress on any ground supported by the record. United States v. Higgins, 557 F.3d 381, 389 (6th Cir.2009); United States v. Pasquarille, 20 F.3d 682, 685 (6th Cir.1994). We analyze the search of Galaviz's car and seizure of the gun under the automobile and plain-view exceptions to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement. The Fourth Amendment imposes a per se requirement that police officers obtain a warrant prior to conducting a search. Maryland v. Dyson, 527 U.S. 465, 466, 119 S.Ct. 2013, 144 L.Ed.2d 442 (1999). Two exceptions to this requirement are for searches of vehicles, id. (citing Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 153, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925)), and for objects in plain view, Minnesota v. Dickerson, 508 U.S. 366, 375, 113 S.Ct. 2130, 124 L.Ed.2d 334 (1993). The automobile exception allows officers to search a vehicle without a warrant if they have probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. United States v. Smith, 510 F.3d 641, 647 (6th Cir.2007) (citation omitted). This exception has traditionally been based on the `ready mobility' of the automobile, which created `an exigency sufficient to excuse failure to obtain a search warrant.' Id. (quoting Pennsylvania v. Labron, 518 U.S. 938, 940, 116 S.Ct. 2485, 135 L.Ed.2d 1031 (1996) and California v. Carney, 471 U.S. 386, 390-91, 105 S.Ct. 2066, 85 L.Ed.2d 406 (1985)). Recent cases have clarified that the automobile exception need not rest on an independent showing of exigency, because [e]ven in cases where an automobile was not immediately mobile, the lesser expectation of privacy resulting from its use as a readily mobile vehicle justified application of the vehicular exception. Id. (quoting Carney, 471 U.S. at 391, 105 S.Ct. 2066). Under the plain-view doctrine, if police are lawfully in a position from which they view an object, if its incriminating character is immediately apparent, and if the officers have a lawful right of access to the object, they may seize it without a warrant. United States v. Herndon, 501 F.3d 683, 692 (6th Cir.2007) (quoting Dickerson, 508 U.S. at 375, 113 S.Ct. 2130) (quotation marks omitted). [A] motorist has `no legitimate expectation of privacy shielding that portion of the interior of an automobile which may be viewed from outside the vehicle by either inquisitive passersby or diligent police officers.' United States v. Campbell, 549 F.3d 364, 373 (6th Cir.2008) (quoting United States v. Bradshaw, 102 F.3d 204, 211 (6th Cir.1996) and Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 740, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983)) (alteration in original). Under the plain-view doctrine, we must first determine whether police were lawfully in a position from which to view the gun. Galaviz's car was parked in a short driveway adjacent to the house in which Galaviz was eventually arrested. A photo admitted into evidence at the suppression hearing shows that the driveway was at least two car-lengths long, with a distance of about one car-length from the sidewalk to the corner of the house, and another car-length extending along the side of the house. The driveway was therefore close enough to the house to possibly constitute curtilage protected by the Fourth Amendment. See United States v. Jenkins, 124 F.3d 768, 772 (6th Cir.1997) ([T]he curtilage is considered part of the house itself for Fourth Amendment purposes.). Given the characteristics of the driveway, however, we find that it was not within the protected curtilage of the house. Following guidance from the Supreme Court, we look to four factors to evaluate whether area surrounding the home constitutes curtilage: (1) the proximity of the area claimed to be curtilage to the home; (2) whether the area is included within an enclosure surrounding the home; (3) the nature of the uses to which the area is put; and (4) the steps taken by the resident to protect the area from observation by people passing by. Id. (quoting United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S. 294, 301, 107 S.Ct. 1134, 94 L.Ed.2d 326 (1987)); see also United States v. Estes, 343 Fed.Appx. 97, 100 (6th Cir.2009) (unpublished). Here, the driveway was directly adjacent to the house. However, it was not enclosed by a fence or other barrier and was short, with the portion of the driveway where Galaviz's car was parked directly abutting the public sidewalk. Further, no apparent steps were taken by the residents of the house to protect the driveway from observation by passersbyno hedges or bushes obstructed the view of the driveway from the sidewalk or street, for example. See Estes, 343 Fed.Appx. at 101 (using these factors to find driveway not to be curtilage); see also United States v. Pineda-Moreno, 591 F.3d 1212, 1215 (9th Cir.2010) ([B]ecause [defendant] did not take steps to exclude passersby from his driveway, he cannot claim a reasonable expectation of privacy in it, regardless of whether a portion of it was located within the curtilage of his home.). Therefore, police officers needed no warrant to enter onto the portion of the driveway on which Galaviz's car was parked, and thus they were lawfully in a position from which to view the interior of the vehicle. We next must determine whether the incriminating nature of the gun was immediately apparent. If officers were able to clearly identify the object protruding from beneath the driver's-side seat as part of a handgun, then this prong of the plain-view test is satisfied. See Campbell, 549 F.3d at 373 (upholding the seizure of a handgun from a vehicle under the plain-view doctrine when the butt of the gun was visible under the passenger seat to an officer standing outside the car). In Michigan, it is a crime to carry a pistol in a vehicle without a firearm license. Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.227; see also Mich. Comp. Laws § 776.20 (placing burden of establishing possession of license on the defendant); id. §§ 750.227c, 750.227d (criminalizing carrying of other firearms in a vehicle). Therefore, the incriminating nature of a handgun in the vehicle was immediately apparent. Counsel for Galaviz conceded as much at oral argument, but argued that the record is insufficient to show that officers were actually able to identify the object as a gun from their position outside the car. Due to errors by the court reporter, the only testimony regarding the position and visibility of the gun that appears in the suppression hearing transcript is the following exchange from the examination of Deputy Webber: Q After [Galaviz] went in and was Tasered, what led to your attention being drawn to that vehicle? A [by Deputy Webber] It was observed by the city officers; they observed a handgun through the window stuck up under the front seat. Q Did you then go to the vehicle and look for yourself? A Yes, I did. Q And what did you see? A I saw the handled portion of what appeared to be a revolver sticking out underneath the driver's seat. Missing from the transcript is the testimony of Sergeant Przybylski, who apparently also discussed viewing the gun. In addition to the officers' testimony, the government entered into evidence a photo showing a revolver sticking out from under the front seat of a car. However, none of the testimony preserved in the hearing transcript serves to authenticate that photo, and it appears that the photo was taken after the car door was forced open, from a position below window level and near the floor of the car, and thus does not indicate whether the gun was actually visible through the window of the locked car. [6] Notwithstanding these deficiencies in the record, however, Webber's testimony describing what he saw is sufficient to establish that the gun was visible from outside the car. The remaining question under the plain-view doctrine is whether the officers had a lawful right of access to the interior of the locked car so as to seize the gun. This turns on application of the automobile exception. The automobile exception allows a warrantless search of an automobile if officers have probable cause to believe the vehicle contains evidence of a crime. Smith, 510 F.3d at 647. Here, that probable cause was supplied when officers viewed the gun in the car, which constitutes a violation of Mich. Comp. Laws § 750.227. The right to search the interior of the vehicle under the automobile exception thus provided officers with a lawful right of access to the car sufficient to satisfy the plain-view exception. See Boone v. Spurgess, 385 F.3d 923, 928 (6th Cir.2004) (The final requirement [of the plain-view exception], that the officer have a lawful right of access to the object, is meant to guard against warrantless entry onto premises whenever contraband is viewed from off the premises in the absence of exigent circumstances, but does not bar the seizure of evidence in a parked car. (internal citations omitted)). That the car was locked is also not material under the facts of this case, because the automobile exception provided officers with authority to enter the car. [7] See United States v. Tilmon, 15 F.3d 1094, 1994 WL 2774, at -3 (9th Cir.1994) (unpublished table opinion) (upholding search of locked car pursuant to the automobile exception where officer gained access either by smashing a window or using a coat-hangar); United States v. Perry, 925 F.2d 1077, 1079-80 (8th Cir.1991) (upholding search of locked car under the automobile exception where officer gained entry by using a slim-jim); see also United States v. Bishop, 338 F.3d 623, 626-28 (6th Cir. 2003) (holding that plain-view exception provided officer with authority to seize gun by reaching through open window of unattended car); United States v. Haynes, 301 F.3d 669, 676-77 (6th Cir.2002) (assuming that automobile exception could justify officer's entry into locked car using defendant's key (without defendant's consent) given probable cause, but finding that no probable cause existed); United States v. Weatherspoon, 82 F.3d 697, 697-99 (6th Cir.1996) (upholding, under plain-view exception, officer's entry into locked car after seeing barrel of gun sticking out from under the seat). Therefore, we affirm the district court's denial of Galaviz's motion to suppress.