Opinion ID: 1169295
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the searches

Text: As the Court of Appeals noted, there were three searches of Johnson's home: the first search by the landlord, the second search by the officer at the landlord's invitation but prior to the obtaining of a valid search warrant, and the third search by the officer after obtaining a warrant. The first search by the landlord, although not consented to by Johnson, implicates no interests of the Fourth Amendment or art. 1, § 17 of the Idaho Constitution because those provisions only prohibit illegal governmental searches and seizures. United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984); State v. Pontier, 103 Idaho 91, 94, 645 P.2d 325, 328 (1982). It is the latter two searches to which we turn our attention. The second search raises issues involving whether the conduct of the police officer constituted a search for Fourth Amendment and art. 1, § 17 purposes, whether Johnson's landlord could adequately consent to a search of Johnson's home, and whether Johnson had a legitimate expectation of privacy that was violated in this case. The third search's validity depends to a large degree upon the validity of the second search. It also independently raises issues involving the validity of the search warrant, what constitutes probable cause, and what constitutes tainted evidence that must be suppressed.
The state begins by arguing that there is no issue of consent in this case because the police viewing of the results of the private search was not a search within the confines of the Fourth Amendment... . Respondent's Brief in Support of Petition for Rehearing, p. 9-10. [1] In the state's view, the officer's conduct was a police viewing of what Johnson's landlord had uncovered, and not a search. Respondent's Brief, supra, pp. 9-10. We reject the state's characterization, finding it to be factually and legally without merit. The cases the state relies upon [2] do not support the state. Each of these cases involved a private individual turning over the results of his or her private search to the government. They do not, with the possible exception of Lucas, supra, and Eisentrager, supra, [3] involve a police officer following a private citizen into a home and conducting an independent search of that home. As the Court of Appeals noted: In the instant case ... the suspected contraband was not turned over to the authorities; instead the landlord invited the officer to enter a private dwelling to observe the contraband first-hand. In this case, the suspected contraband was not in plain view; and the landlord had neither personally seized nor delivered it to the police. The officer had to enter the private dwelling in order to see it. The fact that the Fourth Amendment does not reach the landlord does not mean that the officer, a government official, is also immune from its sanctions simply because he accompanied the landlord. Johnson, supra, 108 Idaho at 622, 701 P.2d at 242, n. 2 (emphasis to officer in original; remainder of emphasis added). There simply is no evidence in this case from which Johnson's landlord could have concluded that Johnson had abandoned his apartment. On the contrary, the record reveals that numerous personal effects were found in Johnson's home, suggesting, that, far from abandoning his home, he was still living there. The illogic of the state's argument that the officer's entry and search did not constitute a search for Fourth Amendment purposes is best observed by noting the results that would flow from application of its argument. If the state were to have its way on this point, it would apparently argue that the following scenario is outside constitutional protection: A private citizen ransacks a home, claiming to be in search of contraband. Upon discovering the alleged contraband, the citizen calls in the police who conduct a second ransacking of the home, looking and searching everywhere and inspecting everything as did the citizen. According to the state, because the officer is only viewing the citizen's efforts  merely retracing the citizen's footsteps  such government activity is outside the purview of federal and state constitutional protections. Such an abberational view is not harmonious with what the framers of our federal and state constitutions intended when they put these protections into our constitutions, and we so hold. It is of no avail for the state to claim that the police officer unwittingly entered the apartment or that his discovery was a plain view discovery of the evidence. His affidavit clearly states that Johnson's landlord informed him that there were suspicious plants, which he (the police officer) should see. Thus, the officer knew before entering Johnson's home that he was entering in to ascertain if some allegedly suspicious plants were, in fact, contraband. The officer also testified at the motion to suppress hearing, and at the preliminary hearing, that: As I went into the apartment I observed several personal items that indicated someone still lived there. Nevertheless, the officer testified that he continued to enter Johnson's home  approximately five or six feet  to search for the suspicious plants. Only after looking behind a door did the officer discover the alleged suspicious plants. Thus, it is clear that the evidence was not exposed to the plain view of the officer, and that he did not have not only a right, but also a duty to be where he was. State v. Ellis, 99 Idaho 606, 608, 586 P.2d 1050, 1052 (1978) (emphasis added). See also Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 1540, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983) (The question whether property in plain view of the police may be seized therefore must turn on the legality of the intrusion that enables them to perceive and physically seize the property in question.). Accordingly, any plain view argument must also fail. The officer knew that the landlord requesting the search was just that, a landlord, and nothing more  certainly not a spouse or a co-tenant. The police officer is imputed with knowledge of the law, which, as we detail below, see part I.B.2. infra, includes among other things, the fact that (1) warrantless searches are per se unconstitutional, unless a specific exception to the rule exists, and (2) that a landlord's consent is insufficient to permit a government official to search the home of a renter/lessee. Thus, we have a prima facie case, even as seen from the point of view of the officer, where rights under the Fourth Amendment and art. 1, § 17 have been implicated. We turn now to the question of whether those rights were violated.

It is axiomatic that warrantless searches are per se unreasonable, and therefore unconstitutional, unless a specifically enumerated exception to this rule applies. State v. Bottelson, 102 Idaho 90, 92, 625 P.2d 1093, 1095 (1981); State v. Ellis, 99 Idaho 606, 608, 586 P.2d 1050, 1052 (1978); State v. Harwood, 94 Idaho 615, 617, 495 P.2d 160, 162 (1972). Basically, there are three common exceptions to the warrant rule: (1) a search incident to a lawful arrest, Harwood, supra, at 618, 495 P.2d at 163; (2) a search in response to exigent circumstances, [4] Id., and (3) a search conducted pursuant to properly given consent. Id. There is no argument that any of these exceptions apply except the consent exception. Specifically, the state can only excuse the warrantless search in this case if it can persuade us that the landlord had proper authority to consent to the police officer's search. We hold that the landlord did not have such authority.
The burden of proving that consent has been given, and that the person giving the consent had authority to do so, is on the state. United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974); State v. Post, 98 Idaho 834, 837, 573 P.2d 153, 156 (1978), overruled on other grounds, State v. Bottelson, 102 Idaho 90, 625 P.2d 1093 (1981). It is conceded that Johnson's landlord consented to the search of Johnson's apartment. The issue, however, is whether he had authority to do so. The United States Supreme Court has supplied the test by which to determine whether a third party had authority to consent to a search by a government official: [W]hen the prosecution seeks to justify a warrantless search by proof of voluntary consent, it is not limited to proof that consent was given by the defendant, but may show that permission to search was obtained from a third party who possessed common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected.7 7 Common authority is, of course, not to be implied from themere property interest a third party has in the property. The authority which justifies the third-party consent does not rest upon the law of property, with its attendant historical and legal refinements, see Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 81 S.Ct. 776, 5 L.Ed.2d 828 (1961) (landlord could not validly consent to the search of a house he had rented to another), Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 84 S.Ct. 889, 11 L.Ed.2d 856 (1964) (night hotel clerk could not validly consent to search of customer's room) but rests rather on mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched. Matlock, supra, 415 U.S. at 171, 94 S.Ct. at 993 (emphasis added). Thus, our inquiry is, in the words of the United States Supreme Court, whether the state has proven that Johnson's landlord had mutual use of the property, and whether Johnson assumed the risk that [Johnson's landlord] might permit the common area to be searched. [5] A person's home is accorded the full range of Fourth Amendment protections. Lewis v. United States, 385 U.S. 206, 211, 87 S.Ct. 424, 427, 17 L.Ed.2d 312 (1966). Moreover, the physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed... . United States v. United States District Court, 407 U.S. 297, 313, 92 S.Ct. 2125, 2134, 32 L.Ed.2d 752 (1972) (emphasis added). See also State v. Louis, 296 Or. 57, 672 P.2d 708, 710 (1983) (The defendant's living quarters ... are the quintessential domain protected by the constitutional guarantee against warrantless searches.); accord, State v. Martin, 139 Ariz. 466, 679 P.2d 489, 496 (1984). Our constitutions make no distinction between owned and rented living quarters. So long as a tenant has not abandoned the premises, protection of the Fourth Amendment and art. 1, § 17 is not lost. Abel v. United States, 362 U.S. 217, 241, 80 S.Ct. 683, 698, 4 L.Ed.2d 668 (1960). Applying the test announced in Matlock, supra, 415 U.S. at 171 n. 7, 94 S.Ct. at 993 n. 7, to the facts of this case, and for the reasons set forth below, we hold that Johnson's landlord was without authority for purposes of either the Fourth Amendment or art. 1, § 17 to give effective consent to a search of Johnson's home. The reason for our holding in this case is that the state was unable to present any evidence that Johnson's landlord had mutual use of the property or that Johnson assumed the risk that [Johnson's landlord] might permit the common area to be searched. Matlock, supra, 415 U.S. at 171, n. 7, 94 S.Ct. at 993, n. 7. Furthermore, the evidence in this case reveals that Johnson had a legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy in his home. There is no evidence that he had abandoned his residence. There is evidence that he still was residing there. This was given in the form of the testimony of the police officer who performed the offending search. [6] Whether the rental period had expired is a factual issue that has not yet been decided. That issue need not be decided in the context of this case, however, because we hold that Johnson was entirely justified in expecting his landlord to resort to the eviction procedures required by law rather than resorting to self-help in seeking rent payment if he was in fact behind in his rent. United States v. Botelho, 360 F. Supp. 620, 624-25 (D.Hawaii 1973); United States v. Olsen, 245 F. Supp. 641, 644-45 (D.Mont. 1965); State v. Taggart, 7 Or. App. 479, 491 P.2d 1187, 1189 (1971). [7] Our holding is consistent with what other courts have held in similar situations. For example, as the Court of Appeals noted, a lessor/landlord cannot give effective consent to a search of a rental house, Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 81 S.Ct. 776, 5 L.Ed.2d 828 (1961), an apartment, People v. Boorem, 184 Colo. 233, 519 P.2d 939 (1974), a room in a rooming house, State v. Warfield, 184 Wis. 56, 198 N.W. 854 (1924), a hotel, Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 84 S.Ct. 889, 11 L.Ed.2d 856 (1964), or even a locker, Murdock v. State, 664 P.2d 589 (Alaska App. 1983).
We therefore hold the following: (1) that the second search by the police officer at the invitation of Johnson's landlord was a search for purposes of the Fourth Amendment; (2) that Johnson had a legitimate and reasonable expectation of privacy in his home; (3) that applying the United States Supreme Court test found in Matlock, supra, 415 U.S. at 171 n. 7, 94 S.Ct. at 993 n. 7, the landlord did not have authority to consent to the search of Johnson's home; and (4) that the police officer, not having consent to conduct the search, and there being no other exception applicable to our constitutions' warrant requirements, conducted an unreasonable and, therefore, unconstitutional search. Thus, we turn to the issue of what remedy is necessary to correct the unconstitutional search conducted here.