Opinion ID: 427723
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Search of Appellees' Home by the IRS.

Text: 12 The analytic framework for determining whether law enforcement activities constitute a search within the meaning of the fourth amendment is found in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), particularly in Justice Harlan's concurring opinion. In Katz, government agents eavesdropped on conversations in a telephone booth by means of an electronic listening device attached to the top of the booth. Holding that the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places, id. at 351, 88 S.Ct. at 511, the Court discarded the trespass analysis applied in prior cases to determine whether a fourth amendment search occurred. Id. at 351-53, 88 S.Ct. 511-512. The Court concluded that, despite the absence of a physical intrusion into the telephone booth, the agents' actions violated the privacy upon which [the defendant] justifiably relied while using the telephone booth and thus constituted a 'search and seizure' within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 353, 88 S.Ct. at 512. As stated more explicitly by Justice Harlan, the Court in Katz recognized two requirements for the existence of a privacy interest protected by the fourth amendment: first that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as 'reasonable.'  Id. at 361, 88 S.Ct. at 516 (Harlan, J., concurring). Where both prongs of the test are met, law enforcement activity that intrudes upon the privacy interest is considered a search within the meaning of the fourth amendment. We turn to an application of the Katz test to the facts of the case before us. 4 13 The district court, after its review of the facts conclude[d] that the orchestrated ruse employed by the [IRS agents] on April 4 and April 25 constitute[d] a search in violation of petitioners' Fourth Amendment rights. 524 F.Supp. at 652. In its view, undercover activities, while often necessary to effective law enforcement, should not be sanctioned when employed by the IRS because such operations would interfere with the IRS' reliance on voluntary assessment and compliance by taxpayers. Id. Indeed, the court found that the IRS is [not] identical, or even substantially similar, to the FBI for purposes of analyzing the effect of undercover operations on Fourth Amendment rights. While we agree with the district court that the BOP, even if implemented in conformity with the National Director's requirements, may ultimately be destructive, we reluctantly disagree that such policy concerns can control our decision here. The district court's failure to apply the Katz test leaves essentially unsupported its conclusion that a fourth amendment search occurred in this case. 5 14 When the Katz standard is applied to the facts presented by this case, we conclude that the IRS activities with respect to the Joneses and Acme Meats, however unwise and shortsighted they may have been, did not constitute a search within the meaning of the fourth amendment. The first part of the Katz test asks whether the Joneses exhibited by their conduct an intention to preserve as private the evidence of skimming obtained by the IRS agents. See Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 740, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 2580, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979). Pertinent to answering this question are the decisions of the Supreme Court in Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 408, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966), and Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 87 S.Ct. 424, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966). In Hoffa, the Court stated that the fourth amendment affords no protection to a wrongdoer's misplaced belief that a person to whom he voluntarily confides his wrongdoing will not reveal it. Id. at 302, 87 S.Ct. at 413. In subsequent cases, courts have applied the misplaced confidence doctrine of Hoffa to undercover activities by agents of the Internal Revenue Service, see United States v. Scott, 521 F.2d 1188, 1191 (9th Cir.1975); see also United States v. Irvine, 699 F.2d 43, 45-46 (1st Cir.1983) (noting possible applicability of Hoffa ), to investigations of past criminal activities, see United States v. Davanzo, 699 F.2d 1097, 1100 (11th Cir.1983) (citing United States v. Lovasco, 431 U.S. 783, 97 S.Ct. 2044, 52 L.Ed.2d 752 (1977)), and to confidences revealed to agents as well as informers, see United States v. Schuster, 684 F.2d 744, 747-48 (11th Cir.1982), rehearing granted, 697 F.2d 910 (11th Cir.1983); United States v. Scott, 521 F.2d at 1191. The chief remaining limitation on the misplaced confidence doctrine appears to be that the agent or informer may not search for evidence not voluntarily revealed by the unsuspecting criminal. Compare Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. at 209-10, 87 S.Ct. at 426-427, with Gouled v. United States, 255 U.S. 298, 305-06, 41 S.Ct. 261, 263-264, 65 L.Ed. 647 (1921). See United States v. Schuster, 684 F.2d at 748-49 (scope of search must be limited to consent given). This limitation, however, is not applicable to appellees' case. 6 Accordingly, we believe that Hoffa and its progeny compel the conclusion that when, as here, undercover agents gain the confidence of one suspected of criminal activity, and the suspect later voluntarily reveals to the agents evidence of crimes, he or she can have no expectation of privacy in the information so revealed. See United States v. White, 401 U.S. 745, 749, 91 S.Ct. 1122, 1124-1125, 28 L.Ed.2d 453 (1971) (plurality opinion). Government discovery of information or activities, as to which a defendant exhibits no expectation of privacy, is not a search within the meaning of the fourth amendment. See, e.g., Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. at 361, 88 S.Ct. at 516 (Harlan, J., concurring); United States v. Kramer, 711 F.2d 789 at 793-794 (7th Cir.1983) (discussing police search of trash containers). 7 15 Our conclusion that there has been no fourth amendment violation in this case should not be misconstrued as approval of the tactics employed by the IRS agents. It is plain from the record that the IRS has violated its own policy on undercover operations. The agents involved admit that neither of the National Director's express conditions for implementation of the BOP were met until long after the Jones investigation began. 8 16 Democratic governments are based on a relationship of trust between government and the governed. If the possibility exists that the next acquaintance one makes may be a government agent conducting a hidden investigation unjustified by any indication of wrongdoing, every relationship will be tainted by suspicion and fear. 17