Opinion ID: 567665
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence Seized at the Picnic Site

Text: 22 Defendant argues next that the district court erred in failing to suppress the military ammunition box containing .223-caliber rounds of ammunition, the AR-15 cleaning materials and the marijuana in the cardboard box, all of which were seized from the picnic site owned by his parents. Defendant also alleges that the district court erred in failing to suppress the 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun found inside of a tent on the site. Defendant emphasizes that a search warrant had not been acquired by the law enforcement officers prior to seizing these items. 23 The district court held that the items were properly seized as part of a protective sweep to protect the safety of the agents. Alternatively, the court held that the seizure was permissible because defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area searched. For the reasons stated below, we agree that all of the items from the picnic site and from inside of the tent were permissibly seized. 24 First, the search of defendant's parents' property and the seizure of items found there were valid because defendant had no legitimate privacy expectations in the picnic site. Defendant has the burden of showing that: (1) he manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the area searched; and (2) his expectation of privacy is objectively reasonable. See California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 211, 106 S.Ct. 1809, 1811, 90 L.Ed.2d 210 (1986). Defendant has failed to meet this burden. 25 It is well settled that an individual may not legitimately demand privacy for activities conducted out of doors in fields, except in the area immediately surrounding the home. Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 179, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 1741, 80 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984). The picnic site owned by defendant's parents was located in an open field. The 'open fields' doctrine, first enunciated by this court in Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57, 44 S.Ct. 445, 68 L.Ed. 898 (1924), permits police officers to enter and search a field without a warrant. Oliver, 466 U.S. at 173, 104 S.Ct. at 1737. The open fields doctrine does not require the area to be open or a field, but includes thickly wooded areas as well. Id. at 180, n. 11, 104 S.Ct. at 1742, n. 11. 26 The picnic site clearly falls within the definition of open fields which was set forth in Oliver. It was located in a publicly accessible, wooded area and was on 214 acres of land. The picnic site was not located near defendant's parents' home. Defendant's parents did not even attempt to create privacy in the area, such as erect fences or signs. Moreover, the picnic site contained no residential dwellings. There was a tent on the site, but there was no indication that the tent was like a home or even a temporary habitation. Therefore, the area surrounding the tent was not like the area immediately surrounding a home, in which an individual does have a legitimate privacy interest. Id. at 178, 104 S.Ct. at 1741. This is not to say that defendant had no privacy interest in the tent itself, but merely that the presence of the tent, in which no one was apparently residing, did not create a privacy interest in the otherwise non-private area surrounding it. Accordingly, we hold that defendant had no legitimate privacy interest in the picnic site. 27 Having determined that the agents legitimately searched the picnic site, we hold that the seizure of those items located on the site was also valid. An officer must have probable cause to believe that items seized during a search are evidence of a crime in order for the seizure to be valid. Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 326-27, 107 S.Ct. 1149, 1153-54, 94 L.Ed.2d 347 (1987). Under the circumstances of this case--that a significant marijuana raid was in progress, the suspected presence of an armed individual in the woods and the firing of a booby-trapped shotgun--the agents had probable cause to believe that the ammunition, gun cleaning materials and marijuana seized from the picnic site were evidence of a crime. Thus, the search of the picnic site and the seizure of items found there were properly admitted into evidence at defendant's trial. 28 In addition, the search of the tent and the seizure of the shotgun in the tent were valid based on the government's legitimate interests as weighed against any privacy expectation which defendant may have had in the tent. The cursory search of the tent by the agents is analogous to a protective sweep. A protective sweep is a quick and limited search of a premise, incident to an arrest and conducted to protect the safety of police officers and others. It is narrowly confined to a cursory visual inspection of those places in which a person might be hiding. Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325, ----, 110 S.Ct. 1093, 1094, 108 L.Ed.2d 276 (1990). In order for officers to search an area under the protective sweep exigency, there must be articulable facts which, taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, would warrant a reasonably prudent officer believing that the area to be swept harbor[ed] an individual posing a danger to those on the ... scene. Buie, 110 S.Ct. at 1098. Moreover, items which are in the officer's plain view during the course of the lawful search and which the officer has probable cause to believe are evidence of a crime may be validly seized. Id. at 1096. 29 The Court in Buie recognized that, generally, the search of a house or office is not reasonable without a warrant issued on probable cause. However, in the context of that case, where a person was arrested in his home and the arresting officers had a reasonable belief that the basement of the home may have harbored an individual posing a danger to the officers, a cursory, visual search of the basement was permissible. The exigency created by the potential for danger outweighed the defendant's privacy expectations. 30 In addition to Buie, the Supreme Court has recognized the propriety of a warrantless search under the exigency of securing an area to protect officers in several contexts. See Michigan v. Long, 463 U.S. 1032, 1049-50, 103 S.Ct. 3469, 3481, 77 L.Ed.2d 1201 (1983) (the search of the passenger compartment of an automobile which has been lawfully stopped, limited to those areas in which a weapon may be placed or hidden, is permissible if the police officer possesses a reasonable belief based on 'specific and articulable facts, which taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant' the officer in believing that the suspect is dangerous and the suspect may gain immediate control of weapons); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 24, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1881, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968) (where a reasonably prudent officer, who has lawfully stopped an individual on the street, has a reasonable belief that the person stopped is armed and dangerous, a frisk for weapons on the person is permissible when weighed against the 'need for law enforcement officers to protect themselves and other prospective victims of violence' ). 31 We agree with the district court that the totality of the circumstances in this case was such that the agents reasonably believed that the tent posed a danger to the agents. This exigency outweighed any privacy interest which defendant may have had in the tent. 32 The Court emphasized in Buie that a protective sweep, aimed at protecting the arresting officers, if justified by the circumstances, is nevertheless not a full search of the premises, but may extend only to a cursory inspection of those spaces where a person may be found. Buie, 110 S.Ct. at 1099. Here the tent that was searched by the agent had an unzipped flap, so that the agent was only required to lift the flap to look inside of the tent. This was a mere cursory inspection of an area in which someone could easily have been hiding. Therefore, we hold that the search was sufficiently narrow to be valid and the evidence seized from inside of the tent was properly admitted at trial. 33