Opinion ID: 1310247
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 10

Heading: Lack of Reasonable Suspicion to Deploy the Canine in This Case

Text: The canine sniff for illegal drugs in this case transpired in a location in which Ortiz had a legitimate expectation of some measure of privacy, and therefore, the intrusion is subject to the Fourth Amendment and Neb. Const. art. I, § 7, and we have concluded that the officers needed at a minimum reasonable suspicion before proceeding with the canine sniff. The investigative tool of the canine sniff at the threshold of a dwelling may thus be used where it is preceded by information amounting to reasonable, articulable suspicion. As detailed below, we determine that the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to take Pogo into the hallway outside Ortiz' apartment door in this case. With respect to the existence of reasonable suspicion, we have explained that reasonable suspicion entails some minimal level of objective justification which is more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or hunch, but less than the level of suspicion required for a finding of probable cause. State v. Johnson, 256 Neb. 133, 589 N.W.2d 108 (1999). Reasonable suspicion, like probable cause, depends upon both the content of information possessed by police and its degree of reliability. Both factors are considered in the totality of the circumstances that must be taken into account to evaluate whether reasonable suspicion exists. State v. Thomas, 240 Neb. 545, 483 N.W.2d 527 (1992), relying on Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990). We have said with respect to certain investigations that for officers to have reasonable suspicion, they must have a reasonable belief that a crime has been or is about to be committed. State v. Bowers, 250 Neb. 151, 548 N.W.2d 725 (1996); State v. Hicks, 241 Neb. 357, 488 N.W.2d 359 (1992), cert. denied 507 U.S. 1000, 113 S.Ct. 1625, 123 L.Ed.2d 183 (1993); State v. Thomas, supra . A review of decisions of other courts regarding canine sniffs, albeit in nonresidential settings, is helpful in illustrating the types of facts which amount to reasonable suspicion sufficient to justify a canine sniff. Common threads in such cases as U.S. v. Mondello, 927 F.2d 1463 (9th Cir.1991), McGahan v. State, 807 P.2d 506 (Alaska App.1991), and Com. v. Johnston, 515 Pa. 454, 530 A.2d 74 (1987), and other cases in which reasonable suspicion has been found to justify a canine sniff for contraband, are a police officer's personally observing suspicious conduct or, in the alternative, investigating incriminating as opposed to innocuous facts or receiving incriminating information from an established reliable informant. We examine in the instant case whether the police had at least reasonable, articulable suspicion to bring Pogo into the hallway outside of Ortiz' apartment to conduct the canine sniff, which sniff is subject to the Fourth Amendment and the Nebraska Constitution. If the police were in possession of information amounting to reasonable suspicion when the canine sniff was conducted, the results of the sniff can be considered in evaluating the existence of probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant. State v. Morrison, 243 Neb. 469, 500 N.W.2d 547 (1993), disapproved on other grounds, State v. Johnson, supra ; State v. Staten, 238 Neb. 13, 469 N.W.2d 112 (1991); State v. Chronister, 3 Neb.App. 281, 526 N.W.2d 98 (1995). If, however, the police did not have at least reasonable, articulable suspicion to proceed to the hallway outside Ortiz' apartment for the purpose of running Pogo in the hallway outside Ortiz' door, evidence of Pogo's reaction cannot be considered in assessing the existence of probable cause to issue the search warrant, and if the remainder of the information in the affidavit does not amount to probable cause, the warrant is defective and the fruits of the search must be suppressed. See, e.g., State v. Fitch, 255 Neb. 108, 582 N.W.2d 342 (1998) (holding, in reliance on Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963), that evidence directly produced by unconstitutional search, as well as evidence indirectly derived from unconstitutional search, must be suppressed). The record indicates that police officers brought Pogo to Ortiz' apartment building for the purpose of performing a canine sniff on the same evening in which they had earlier received the anonymous call from C/C alleging that Ortiz had been actively distributing cocaine from his apartment within the past year. This information from C/C was an uncorroborated allegation from an anonymous source whose reliability was unknown to police. The caller reported activity within the past year but stated no exigent circumstance that demanded immediate action from police. The officers did not conduct a meaningful investigation. The police verified innocuous information which had been supplied by C/C and did a criminal records check which revealed a 6-year-old conviction and charges dropped more than 3 years prior to enlisting Pogo and his handler to perform a canine sniff in the hallway outside Ortiz' apartment. Prior to receiving C/C's call, police had no suspicion that Ortiz was presently engaged in criminal conduct. The officers made no observations of Ortiz or of the proposed location of the canine sniff prior to deploying Pogo. The information provided by the anonymous C/C coupled with the verification of inconclusive facts did not amount to a quantum of facts or to the degree of reliability which amounted to reasonable suspicion. See State v. Thomas, 240 Neb. 545, 483 N.W.2d 527 (1992). Based on the foregoing, we determine that the officers did not have reasonable suspicion to go to the hallway outside of Ortiz' apartment for the purpose of running Pogo outside of Ortiz' apartment to detect illegal drugs. The information resulting from the alert was not obtained in a manner consistent with the Fourth Amendment and Neb. Const. art. I, § 7. The information gained by virtue of Pogo's sniff outside Ortiz' apartment was not constitutionally obtained, and such information cannot be considered as a basis for obtaining a search warrant. We must, therefore, excise the information generated by Pogo's alert in the hallway from the affidavit and examine the remainder of the affidavit for the existence of probable cause. The remainder of the affidavit consists of the information supplied by C/C, coupled with some additional facts noted above.