Opinion ID: 1312684
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Evidence of Statements Overheard in the Hallway of Defendant's Apartment Building.

Text: Defendant contends that unlawful eavesdropping occurred when a law enforcement officer concealed himself in the stairwell of defendant's apartment building and overheard a statement that defendant made to a third party that was deemed to be inculpatory. This circumstance occurred after two officers had gained entry to the apartment building by randomly pushing apartment buzzers until someone let them in the locked building. Upon gaining entry, the officers proceeded to defendant's apartment and attempted to interview him. After defendant declined to speak with them the officers retreated, ostensibly to leave the premises. One of the officers slammed the outside door of the building to give the impression that they were gone. The other officer, however, took this opportunity to conceal himself in a building stairwell in order to eavesdrop on defendant's conversation with a third party in the hallway above. At defendant's trial, over his objection and motion to suppress evidence, the officer who had eavesdropped was permitted to testify concerning inculpatory statements defendant made to a third party. Defendant asserts that the eavesdropping was unlawful and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the federal constitution. We disagree. In answering this question, it is not necessary to fully explore the extent to which the occupants of a multiple housing dwelling unit are entitled to an expectation of privacy. Whatever that expectation of privacy might be, defendant has failed to demonstrate that the eavesdropping activity in the present case was unlawful. At the time of overhearing defendant's statement to a neighbor, the officer was in a place where he was lawfully entitled to be. The means of entry was in effect a ruse resulting in some occupant of the dwelling granting entry to the common areas of the building. As a result of this occurrence, the officers' presence in the hallways and stairwells of the building was lawful. See United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 169-71, 94 S.Ct. 988, 992-93, 39 L.Ed.2d 242, 248-49 (1974); People v. Savage, 630 P.2d 1070, 1073-74 (Colo.1981); State v. Brown, 408 So.2d 846, 848 (Fla.App.1982); Wright v. State, 593 N.E.2d 1192, 1199 (Ind.1992). The officers' continued presence after defendant rebuffed their efforts to interview him was not unlawful until such time as someone with authority requested them to leave. Defendant never claimed to have so instructed the officers nor was there evidence that anyone else did. The district court properly denied defendant's request to suppress this evidence.