Opinion ID: 445460
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Buhajla's Motion to Suppress.

Text: 14 Buhajla sought below to suppress all evidence that is logically and systematically connected to [the February 10, 1983, installation of a] transponder in an airplane located at his airstrip. Record Vol. I at 185. The transponder, which ultimately emitted the signal that allowed agents to track Murphy's plane to Indianola, was installed in the early morning hours of February 10, 1983, pursuant to a court order signed by a magistrate of the Eastern District of Arkansas. The order was issued on the strength of an application and affidavit submitted by DEA agent Larry Carver. The affidavit avers that a confidential informant (CI) with personal knowledge of the activities of Murphy and Webster advised DEA agents that Murphy and Webster transported a King Air airplane of foreign registry to a private airstrip located near Ozark, Arkansas, owned by a person with a German name, and that the plane had since been used twice to import marijuana from Mexico. The affidavit also indicates that (1) a King Air (registration No. YV-437-CP) had been stolen on January 31, 1983, in Florida; (2) that, on February 3, 1983, Carver spotted an aircraft matching the description given by the CI at Buhajla's airstrip; (3) that a state drug enforcement agent determined that the plane on Buhajla's property bore registration number N-487-OP; and (4) that, according to FAA records, N-487-OP is not a valid registration number. Finally, the affidavit includes general information supporting the conclusion that the plane on Buhajla's property might be used for dope smuggling: (1) Webster and Murphy have a history of illegal drug activity and have previously used stolen aircraft with altered registration numbers and (2) drug smugglers often use aircraft similar to the King Air. 15 The court order, which recites probable cause to believe that [the King Air] is about to be utilized by ... Murphy and others to violate federal drug laws, authorizes installation and maintenance of the transponder for a period of ninety days. By necessary implication, it also authorizes surreptitious entry onto Buhajla's property for the purposes of installation, maintenance and removal of the transponder. 3 DEA agents and customs officers in fact surreptitiously entered Buhajla's property and installed the transponder under cover of darkness in the early morning hours of February 10, 1983. 16 Buhajla attacked the transponder order below on what we view as two distinct grounds: (1) it was based upon a generally unreliable affidavit which does not even demonstrate probable cause to believe that the plane was involved in illegal activity and (2) it authorized entry onto Buhajla's property without probable cause to believe that Buhajla was involved in illegal activity with the plane. 4 The district court denied Buhajla's motion to suppress because, notwithstanding a typographical error in Carver's affidavit which created an inconsistency with respect to the date upon which surveillance of the King Air began, the transponder order was supported by probable cause sufficient to justify surreptitious entry onto Buhajla's property. 17 On appeal, Buhajla relies exclusively on the argument that agents lacked probable cause to connect Buhajla to the importation of marijuana. In fact, at oral argument Buhajla's counsel conceded that agents had probable cause to connect the plane to illegal activity and that an order authorizing agents to enter his property during the daytime to seize the plane would have been justified. 5 18 Buhajla's argument is less than clear. Apparently, he asserts that the legality of a transponder warrant depends on the time and manner in which it is to be executed: an order for a daytime installation which is to be accomplished with the knowledge of the landowner upon whose property the object of the order is located requires only probable cause to believe that the plane will be used in illegal activity by someone; an order for a nighttime, surreptitious installation, because of the danger posed to a landowner who might wake up and investigate the presence of intruders, requires probable cause to believe both that the plane will be used in illegal activity and that the landowner is involved in that activity. Buhajla claims that in this case the magistrate was presented with the former but not the latter. 19 We note at the outset that the precise fourth amendment requirements governing the installation and monitoring of beepers are still evolving. Our cases thus far have focused on two distinct issues: (1) whether the initial installation of a transponder or beeper amounts to a search of the subject vehicle 6 and (2) whether the subsequent monitoring of the beeper amounts to a search implicating fourth amendment protections. 7 Our prior installation cases, however, have involved vehicles parked on public property or on property in which no one involved has asserted a protected privacy interest. Here, Buhajla does not complain of the entry into the plane to install the transponder; rather, he complains of the entry onto his property to gain access to the plane. More specifically, he complains that, because of the dangers posed to his family, covert execution of the transponder order was not justified on the information supplied to the magistrate. 20 Even if we assume that Buhajla's property was searched on the morning of February 10 8 and that Buhajla has standing to complain of evidence obtained thereby, 9 Buhajla's argument is fundamentally flawed for two reasons. First, Buhajla does not argue that surreptitious execution of transponder orders is always forbidden. Rather, he argues that the danger posed by such activity is only justified if there is probable cause to believe both that the vehicle is involved in illegal activity and that the owner of the premises upon which the vehicle is stored is involved in that illegality. Assuming that Buhajla has correctly stated the law, his argument fails because we think that Carver's affidavit in fact established probable cause to believe that Buhajla was involved in drug smuggling activity. Buhajla has conceded probable cause to believe that a small aircraft parked at a remote airstrip located on a private farm, near the farmer's residence, was twice used for drug smuggling during a one-week period. It seems inescapable to us that on such facts probable cause also existed to believe that the farmer was involved in the illegal activity. We find it difficult to imagine a case where a landowner could establish, on the one hand, that an airplane which he effectively concedes is used in drug smuggling was located within the curtilage of his residence and, on the other hand, that probable cause was lacking to connect him to the illegality. At any rate, this is not such a case. 21 More importantly, we are not convinced that Buhajla has correctly stated the law. He cites no authority in support of his theory and we have searched in vain to find any. We start with the general proposition that a search warrant, unlike an arrest warrant, may issue, without the slightest clue to the identity of the criminal, if there is probable cause to believe that fruits, instrumentalities or evidence of criminal activity are located at the place to be searched. See 1 LaFave, Search and Seizure Sec. 2.1(b) (1978) (Indeed, 'probable cause might well be established to suspect that illegal activity, evidence thereof or contraband, was at a given location without implicating any particular person.' ) (quoting United States v. McNally, 473 F.2d 934, 941 (3d Cir.1973)). We think it is clear beyond question, therefore, that a warrant authorizing entry onto private property to gain access to a vehicle for purposes of transponder installation may issue without probable cause to connect the property owner to the illegal activity. 22 Buhajla concedes that point but argues that a different rule applies when a warrant is to be executed by covert entry onto the premises to be searched. He claims that the dangers posed by covert execution of a warrant justify a heightened probable cause standard. We disagree. In Dalia v. United States, 441 U.S. 238, 99 S.Ct. 1682, 60 L.Ed.2d 177 (1979), the Supreme Court addressed the propriety of covert execution of an electronic surveillance order issued pursuant to Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act, 18 U.S.C. Secs. 2510-2520. The Court rejected a constitutional rule prohibiting all covert entries: It is well established that law officers may break and enter to execute a search warrant where such entry is the only means by which the warrant effectively may be executed. Id. at 247, 99 S.Ct. at 1688. The Court went on to hold that a surveillance order may be executed by covert entry even though the order does not explicitly set forth its approval of such entries before the fact. Id. at 255, 99 S.Ct. at 1692. Said the Court: Often in executing a warrant the police may find it necessary to interfere with privacy rights not explicitly considered by the judge who issued the warrant. Id. at 257, 99 S.Ct. at 1693. 23 Although Dalia rests in part on statutory interpretation, we think it clarifies some fourth amendment principles of general application: [T]he specificity required by the Fourth Amendment does not generally extend to the means by which warrants are executed; rather, the manner in which a warrant is executed is subject to later judicial review. Id. at 257-58, 99 S.Ct. at 1693-94. Based on these principles, we reject Buhajla's argument that issuance of a transponder order that will be executed by surreptitious entry requires a greater showing to the issuing judge or magistrate than one that will be executed openly. After-the-fact judicial review of the reasonableness of the execution will suffice to protect privacy interests. 24 Here, the district court found that, notwithstanding the late night entry onto Buhajla's property, the transponder order was executed in a reasonable manner. We agree. As in Dalia, it appears that the circumstances required the [covert] approach used by the officers, id. at 248 n. 8, 99 S.Ct. at 1689 n. 8, and that [t]here is no indication that their intrusion went beyond what was necessary to install the transponder. Id. at 258 n. 21, 99 S.Ct. at 1694 n. 21. Therefore, we must affirm the denial of Buhajla's motion to suppress. 25