Opinion ID: 879076
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defendant had a reduced expectation of privacy on his walkway.

Text: Defendant cites only one case on appeal, Welsh v. Wisconsin (1984), 466 U.S. 740, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 80 L.Ed.2d 732. In Welsh, a police officer responded to a report of a nighttime accident. Upon arrival at the scene, the officer found defendant's car in the ditch. A witness told the officer that defendant had left, but had appeared either very sick or very inebriated. After finding that the vehicle was registered to the defendant, the police proceeded to the defendant's home without a warrant. The police arrested Welsh for a first offense of driving while under the influence of an intoxicant, which was a noncriminal civil offense, and for which no imprisonment was possible. The Welsh court held that the warrantless, nighttime entry into the defendant's house to arrest him for a nonjailable traffic offense was prohibited by the Fourth Amendment. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 754, 104 S.Ct. at 2100, 80 L.Ed.2d at 746. Defendant claims Welsh is analogous to the immediate case. However, Welsh is distinguishable on several key points. First, Undersheriff Fisher never entered defendant's house. He remained on the walkway outside defendant's mobile home. In uncontested testimony, Undersheriff Fisher stated that the sobriety tests were done outside the house on this walkway. The court in Welsh emphasized that the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 748, 104 S.Ct. at 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d at 742, citing United States v. United States District Court (1972), 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752, 764. Defendant Ellinger's outside walkway did not have the same private sanctity as the interior of his house. Therefore, Ellinger had a reduced expectation of privacy when he stepped outside of his house. Second, in Welsh, the arrest occurred at night, Welsh was nude, and he was awakened from sleep. In the immediate case, the time of arrest was August 30 at 7:34 p.m., defendant was fully clothed, standing outside his house and responding to the officer's questions. Defense counsel attempts to invalidate the arrest by characterizing 7:34 p.m. as night. We note § 46-6-105, MCA: An arrest may be made on any day and at any time of the day or night, except that a person cannot be arrested in his home or private dwelling place at night for a misdemeanor committed at some other time and place unless upon the direction of a magistrate endorsed upon a warrant of arrest. [Emphasis added.] When viewed in a light most favorable to defendant, 7:34 p.m. on August 30 might be considered twilight, but certainly not night. Furthermore, defendant was not arrested in his home or dwelling place but on his walkway. Therefore, defendant's arrest did not violate the constraints of the statute. Third, in Welsh, the defendant was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, which was a nonjailable civil offense in Wisconsin. Welsh, 466 U.S. at 754, 104 S.Ct. at 2100, 80 L.Ed.2d at 746. However, defendant Ellinger was arrested for the criminal offense of driving while under the influence of alcohol, where the penalty for a first offense is a mandatory twenty-four hours imprisonment and up to a $500 fine. The nature of the offense is a factor in the defendant's privacy expectation. In summary, an evaluation of the totality of the circumstances determines whether an individual had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the invaded place. Rawlings v. Kentucky (1980), 448 U.S. 98, 104, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 2561, 65 L.Ed.2d 633, 641. Welsh is distinguished on the facts. Defendant's arrest for a criminal offense neither occurred in the defendant's house nor at night. Therefore, defendant Ellinger's expectations of privacy were not violated.