Opinion ID: 1122734
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The effect and retroactivity of De Lancie.

Text: Defendant contends that our De Lancie decision recognized that a person in jail or a police station may have a reasonable expectation of privacy and, to protect such expectations, limited police monitoring to that necessary to protect institutional security. He claims that under this standard, the police recording of the conversation with his brother was unlawful. Finally, defendant maintains that such evidence, obtained in violation of De Lancie, should be suppressed even though the recording was made before De Lancie was rendered. In reviewing defendant's arguments, we first consider the effect of De Lancie upon prior California law. Then, avoiding any decision as to whether De Lancie requires the exclusion of evidence obtained after that case was filed, we turn directly to the question of retroactivity. Our conclusion that De Lancie does not apply to antecedent searches is dispositive of this case. De Lancie itself was a civil action for injunctive relief, prompted by disclosures at the Patty Hearst trial (see United States v. Hearst, supra, 563 F.2d 1331) revealing that personnel at the San Mateo County jail were routinely monitoring conversations between visitors and pretrial detainees. We held that allegations charging that such monitoring was conducted for purposes other than institutional security stated a cause of action. ( De Lancie v. Superior Court, supra, 31 Cal.3d 865, 877.) That holding necessarily implied that secret monitoring of conversations between detainees and visitors, undertaken for the purpose of gathering evidence for use in criminal proceedings, rather than to maintain the security of the jail ( id. ), was unlawful. The De Lancie decision relied largely on Penal Code sections 2600 and 2601, which restored certain civil rights to prisoners, including the right to have personal visits [subject to] such restrictions as are necessary for the reasonable security of the institution. (§ 2601.) [8] Principles of equal protection, we explained, required that pretrial detainees receive the same rights as those accorded by statute to prisoners. (31 Cal.3d at p. 872.) Since Donaldson and his brother were neither prisoners nor detainees, and had never been deprived of any civil rights, De Lancie 's statutory analysis is largely irrelevant to the present case. What is crucial is De Lancie 's discussion of North v. Superior Court, supra, 8 Cal.3d 301. Defendants in De Lancie relied on North for the proposition that ordinarily there can be no reasonable expectation of privacy in a jail or police station, and asserted that consequently routine monitoring of detainee-visitor conversations violated no expectation of privacy. Our rejection of that proposition was essential to the De Lancie decision. Three considerations led us to reject the reasoning of North. First was the obvious need of persons confined in jail to communicate in private with their spouses, families, and friends about matters often of a confidential or intimate nature. Permitting state officials to listen in on such conversations for reasons unrelated to jail security  indeed without any reason at all  offends the fundamental right of privacy guaranteed by the California Constitution. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.) Second, sections 2600 and 2601 enacted a policy of restoring to inmates those civil rights compatible with prison security. The purpose of that policy would be defeated if we were to hold that no one within a jail or police station  inmate or not  has any right or expectation of privacy. (See 31 Cal.3d at pp. 875-876.) Finally, we observe that North and similar cases did not purport to make a factual determination that inmates do not subjectively expect privacy, or that such expectations are unreasonable, but simply declared a legal proposition, the absence of any right of privacy in jail. (P. 875.) As a realistic matter, persons placed in a setting where they could be overheard only through the use of hidden microphones or tapped telephone wires often do expect privacy. And unless those persons actually know of police monitoring practices or of court decisions authorizing those practices, we could not describe their expectation as unreasonable. Indeed from the cases which have come to our attention, it appears that an expectation of privacy in a police station or jail whenever the conversation cannot be overheard by unaided ears is so commonly entertained that the police anticipate and routinely exploit it to obtain evidence of crimes. In short, De Lancie held that the no expectation of privacy in a police station or jail doctrine of North v. Superior Court could not be justified either as a measure of the conversant's subjective belief or as a judgment on the reasonableness of that belief. The monitoring of conversations could be upheld only when supported by an overriding state interest of sufficient magnitude to justify invading the privacy of the persons monitored. Drawing upon Penal Code section 2601, we approved monitoring to safeguard the reasonable security of the institution, but held that allegations charging the county with routinely monitoring detainee-visitor conversations for the sole purpose of gathering evidence stated a cause of action. In the present case, the testimony suggests that the police secretly recorded the Donaldson brothers' conversations to acquire leads or evidence about the murder, not to protect the security of the police station. The district attorney here does not claim the monitoring complies with the De Lancie decision. He argues instead that De Lancie, a civil action for injunctive relief, should not be extended to require the suppression of evidence in a criminal proceeding, and that in any event it should not apply to police conduct that took place before De Lancie was rendered. As we mentioned earlier, we decide this case on the second ground, holding that De Lancie does not affect the validity of antecedent searches, and avoid any determination of the effect of De Lancie upon police monitoring after that decision was filed. (2) In determining whether a decision should be given retroactive effect, the California courts undertake first a threshold inquiry, inquiring whether the decision established new standards or a new rule of law. If it does not establish a new rule or standards, but only elucidates and enforces prior law, no question of retroactivity arises. (See United States v. Bowen (9th Cir.1974) 500 F.2d 960, 975; People v. Jones (1980) 108 Cal. App.3d 9, 16 [166 Cal. Rptr. 131] and cases there cited.) Neither is there any issue of retroactivity when we resolve a conflict between lower court decisions, or address an issue not previously presented to the courts. In all such cases the ordinary assumption of retrospective operation ( County of Los Angeles v. Faus (1957) 48 Cal.2d 672, 680-681 [312 P.2d 680]; Wellenkamp v. Bank of America (1978) 21 Cal.3d 943, 953-954 [148 Cal. Rptr. 379, 582 P.2d 970]) takes full effect. Thus, we must undertake a threshold inquiry to determine whether De Lancie established a new rule or standard which could be given nonretroactive application. The United States Supreme Court has recently attempted to define the decisions involving a clear break with the past ( Desist v. United States (1964) 394 U.S. 244, 248 [22 L.Ed.2d 248, 254, 89 S.Ct. 1030]) that raise an issue of retroactivity. According to United States v. Johnson (1982) 457 U.S. 537 [73 L.Ed.2d 202, 102 S.Ct. 2579], [s]uch a break has been recognized only when a decision explicitly overrules a past precedent of this Court [citations], or disapproves a practice this Court has arguably sanctioned in prior cases [citations], or overturns a longstanding and widespread practice to which this Court has not spoken, but which a near-unanimous body of lower court authority has expressly approved. (457 U.S. 537 at p. 551 [73 L.Ed.2d at p. 215, 102 S.Ct. at p. 2588].) While De Lancie did not expressly overrule any prior decision, it disapproved a practice arguably sanctioned by North v. Superior Court, supra, 8 Cal.3d 301, and many other decisions. Although based in part on an interpretation of two 1975 statutes, Penal Code sections 2600 and 2601, De Lancie was clearly not a simple application of the statutory language. Prior cases had held that at least as to nonprivileged conversations there existed no right of privacy in a jail or police station, and if that doctrine prevailed, mere application of the language of sections 2600 and 2601 would offer no protection. Thus, in its departure from past precedent, even though in the context of statutory interpretation, De Lancie appears to represent the type of break from prior law which may justify nonretroactivity under United States v. Johnson . [9] Once resolved that a decision establishes a new standard, the California courts define the retroactive effect of that decision under the tripartite test based upon Stovall v. Denno, supra, 388 U.S. 293. (3) People v. Kaanehe (1977) 19 Cal.3d 1 [136 Cal. Rptr. 409, 559 P.2d 1028], explains the California practice: Whether a judicial decision establishing new ... standards is to be given retroactive effect is customarily determined by weighing the following factors: `(a) the purpose to be served by the new standards, (b) the extent of reliance by law enforcement authorities on the old standards, and (c) the effect on the administration of justice of retroactive application of the new standards.' ( Stovall v. Denno (1967) 388 U.S. 293, 297 [18 L.Ed.2d 1199, 1203]; accord, In re Johnson (1970) 3 Cal.3d 404, 410 [90 Cal. Rptr. 569, 475 P.2d 841].) `It is also clear that the factors of reliance and burden on the administration of justice are of significant relevance only when the question of retroactivity is a close one after the purpose of the new rule is considered.' ( In re Johnson, supra, 3 Cal.3d 404, 410.) Decisions have generally been made fully retroactive only where the right vindicated is one which is essential to the integrity of the fact-finding process. On the other hand, retroactivity is not customarily required when the interest to be vindicated is one which is merely collateral to a fair determination of guilt or innocence. [Citation.] (19 Cal.3d at p. 10; accord, In re Joe R. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 496, 511 [165 Cal. Rptr. 837, 612 P.2d 927].) [10] (4) In search and seizure cases, the tripartite test leads generally to the conclusion that a decision should not be given retroactive effect. [11] As explained in Kaanehe, in such a case [e]xclusion is not necessary to ensure the reliability of the fact-finding process at trial. No compulsion is present and the evidence seized is entirely trustworthy. As the purpose of the exclusionary rule in those circumstances is to deter illegal conduct by law enforcement officials, exclusion of evidence seized prior to the pronouncement of a decision does not further compliance with that decision. (19 Cal.3d 1, 10-11; accord, In re Joe R., supra, 27 Cal.3d 496, 511-512; see People v. Cook, supra, 22 Cal.3d 67, 99, fn. 18; People v. Ramey, supra, 16 Cal.3d 263, 276, fn. 7; People v. Superior Court ( Harris ) (1979) 100 Cal. App.3d 386, 389 [160 Cal. Rptr. 880].) (1b) Consequently, even if we were to require the suppression of evidence seized in violation of the De Lancie standards, we would not apply that rule to evidence derived from pre- De Lancie searches. The purpose of the De Lancie decision was to limit clandestine police monitoring in order to protect the private communications of inmates, detainees and visitors. Whether or not an exclusionary sanction is necessary to achieve that purpose, retroactive application of such a sanction would serve no constructive purpose; it would not restore the privacy of those whose innocent conversations had been monitored, but would benefit only those who made incriminating admissions. Neither would it add to the deterrent effect of the De Lancie decision upon future monitoring. Therefore, in view of the reliance of the police upon pre- De Lancie searches, we conclude that De Lancie does not require the exclusion of evidence obtained in antecedent searches. Defendant having failed to show an adequate basis for suppression of the challenged evidence under either federal or California law, the alternative writ of mandate is discharged, and the petition for a peremptory writ is denied.