Opinion ID: 2064797
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Legality of the Search and Seizure

Text: Before addressing the merits of defendant's challenge to the constitutionality of the search, it is necessary to consider the State's argument that defendant waived his right to object to the admission of evidence of the marijuana by failing to make the motion to suppress prior to trial pursuant to Rule 41(e), M.R.Crim.P. Rule 41(e) provides in part: A person aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure may move the Superior Court in the county in which the property was seized for the return of the property and to suppress for use as evidence anything so obtained on the ground that ... [t]he property was illegally seized without warrant.... . . . . .  The motion shall be made before trial or hearing unless opportunity therefor did not exist or the defendant was not aware of the grounds for the motion, but the court in its discretion may entertain the motion at the trial or hearing. (Emphasis added) This court has previously reserved decision on this issue. In State v. Hazelton, Me., 330 A.2d 919, 922 n. 3 (1975), holding that a pretrial motion to suppress saves defendant's point for appellate review without repeating the motion at trial, we withheld judgment on the question whether Maine should adopt the prevailing federal practice that, in general, a defendant loses his right to object to the admissibility as evidence at trial of matters which he could have moved, but failed to move, to suppress prior to trial. Accord, State v. Parkinson, Me., 389 A.2d 1, 6 (1978). There remains no reason now why we should not enforce, at least prospectively, the clear language of Rule 41(e). The language of Rule 41(e) is direct and unequivocal: The motion shall be made before trial or hearing unless specifically designated circumstances warranting a departure from the general rule exist. (Emphasis added) The use of the word shall makes compliance mandatory. Furthermore, there are strong policy reasons in favor of enforcing the rule. Those reasons are well stated in the comment to Rule 451(c)(4) of the Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure (1974), as follows: Requiring the motion to suppress to be made before trial is supported by the following considerations: (1) the pretrial motion assists orderly presentation of evidence at trial by eliminating from the trial disputes over police conduct not immediately relevant to the question of guilt; (2) it avoids the possibility of having to declare a mistrial because the jury has been exposed to unconstitutional evidence; (3) it spares the state as well as the defense the expense of useless trials in cases where a purely legal determination by the judge alone will settle disposition of the case; (4) by giving the prosecutor advance notice of defendant's objection (or lack thereof), the pretrial motion enables the prosecutor to determine which officers, if any, must be available to testify at the hearings on any pretrial motion and at trial; (5) it facilitates prosecution and defense preparation for trial (and possibly plea negotiation) by giving them advance knowledge of the evidentiary status of the seized items; and (6) by requiring that objection be made before defendant is placed in jeopardy, it facilitates utilization of provisions for interlocutory appeal by the prosecution. These considerations will ordinarily offset the inconvenience of police officers having to appear at the suppression motion hearing and then, if the motion is denied, at the trial; in the exceptional case where the inconvenience to witnesses appears to outweigh the advantages cited, the court may schedule the hearing immediately before or even during the trial so as to minimize or eliminate such inconvenience. Id. at 215. See also American Law Institute, A Model Code of Pre-Arraignment Procedure § 290.1(2) (1975) and commentary therein, id. at 557. Although the pretrial motion requirement of Rule 41(e) was imposed by the Maine Rules of Criminal Procedure as originally promulgated by this court to be effective December 1, 1965, subsequent events add force to the reasonableness of its enforcement now in strict accordance with its plain terms. Maine trial courts now follow the uniform practice of appointing counsel for indigent criminal defendants at an early stage in the proceeding; and by the January 3, 1978 amendment adding the automatic discovery provision of Rule 16(a) to the criminal rules, defense counsel have the benefit of being informed by the prosecution within a reasonable time of any evidence intended to be used at trial which was obtained through a search and seizure. Furthermore, in 1968 the Maine legislature for the first time gave the State the right to appeal a pretrial order suppressing evidence, P.L. 1968, ch. 547; to permit defense counsel to delay raising the suppression issue until after jeopardy attaches would frustrate the legislative objective of protecting the prosecution from legally erroneous suppression orders. Rule 41(e) does, of course, recognize two exceptions to its requirement that all motions to suppress be made before trial. First, the waiver will not be imposed in situations where the defendant lacked an opportunity to make a pretrial motion to suppress or had no notice of the grounds for such a motion prior to trial. Early compliance by the prosecution with the automatic discovery provision of Rule 16(a)(1)(A)(i), M.R.Crim.P., would normally give the defense both notice and a timely opportunity to make the pretrial suppression motion. Thus, occasion for permitting a late motion should be infrequent under the rules. Second, Rule 41(e) also permits the presiding justice to entertain the motion at the trial or hearing. This exception, however, does not permit such action by the presiding justice at will, without his discretion being subject to review for principled exercise. There must be good cause shown to authorize such a departure from the customary rule. Cf. Rule 451(c), Unif. R.Crim.P., supra (Unless otherwise ordered by the court for cause shown). There may be countervailing considerations, [2] such as the availability of witnesses at trial, but not before, that will constitute cause for hearing and deciding the motion at trial on the request of either the defense or prosecution. However, the six public policy reasons well stated in the above-quoted comment to the Uniform Rules of Criminal Procedure should not be lightly overridden. In the instant case, although aware that the State had seized marijuana from his possession, defendant failed to utilize his opportunity to file a pretrial motion to suppress. However, given our past reluctance to require adherence to the requirement of Rule 41(e), upon which defense counsel may have relied, we will here consider on its merits defendant's challenge to the constitutionality of the search and seizure. Recognizing that in determining the effect of our rulings it is permissible for us to choose between the principle of forward operation and that of relation backward, [3] we hold that enforcement of Rule 41(e) adopted herein will apply only to prosecutions hereafter commenced and pending prosecutions in which reasonable time remains to permit the suppression motion to be made, heard and ruled upon without delaying the start of a scheduled trial. Our review of the merits of defendant's claim that his constitutional rights were infringed under the circumstances of this case reveals nothing that by any possibility would justify exclusion of the analysis of the contents of the bag seized during the prison search. Defendant was returning to the secure areas of the prison after having had contact with outsiders under circumstances in which passage to him of prohibited material could easily escape detection. He was ordered to remove his clothes. Before completely stripping, he handed over the bag of marijuana to the guard. Under the facts of this case, this search and seizure in no way ran afoul of either the federal or state constitution.