Opinion ID: 1906647
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Continued Viability of Plymouth Sedan

Text: Contrary to the Court of Special Appeals's opinion, Plymouth Sedan remains applicable. As recently as 1994, the Supreme Court cited the case as authority for the proposition that the exclusionary rule applies to civil forfeiture proceedings. United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U.S. 43, 49, 114 S.Ct. 492, 499, 126 L.Ed.2d 490 (1993) (The Fourth Amendment does place restrictions on seizures conducted for purposes of civil forfeiture, One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 696, 85 S.Ct. 1246, 1248, 14 L.Ed.2d 170 (1965) (holding that the exclusionary rule applies to civil forfeiture), but it does not follow that the Fourth Amendment is the sole constitutional provision in question when the Government seizes property subject to forfeiture.). Although the Court of Special Appeals opined that United States v. Ursery, 518 U.S. 267, 116 S.Ct. 2135, 135 L.Ed.2d 549 (1996), impliedly overruled Plymouth Sedan, that argument is inaccurate for two reasons: (1) Ursery dealt exclusively with the Fifth Amendment Due Process Clause, see infra, and (2) Ursery never discussed or cited Plymouth Sedan in the majority opinion. [4] Similarly, respondent relies on the Court of Special Appeals's quotation of United States v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 447, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 3029, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1976), to argue Plymouth Sedan does not control this case. The quotation from Janis states that [i]n the complex and turbulent history of the [exclusionary] rule, the Court never has applied it to exclude evidence from a civil proceeding, federal or state. That particular sentence, however, is followed by footnote seventeen of that opinion, which states: [T]he Court has applied the exclusionary rule in a proceeding for forfeiture of an article used in violation of the criminal law. Id. at 447 n. 17, 96 S.Ct. at 3029 n. 17, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046 (citing Plymouth Sedan, 380 U.S. 693, 85 S.Ct. 1246, 14 L.Ed.2d 170). Eleven of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals have interpreted Plymouth Sedan to stand for the proposition that the exclusionary rule applies to civil in rem forfeitures. [5] Additionally, courts in thirty-four states have interpreted Plymouth Sedan to stand for the same proposition. [6] We note that in many of these federal and state cases, the various courts refer to Plymouth Sedan primarily in dicta. Nevertheless, the cases consistently accept the interpretation of Plymouth Sedan as applying the exclusionary rule to civil in rem forfeiture proceedings. Our examination of the cases has revealed no court that completely rejects that interpretation, as the Court of Special Appeals did in the case below. [7] This Court's interpretation of Plymouth Sedan has not differed from the conclusions reached by the majority of other courts, even those which distinguish Plymouth Sedan. In Sheetz v. Mayor of Baltimore, 315 Md. 208, 212, 553 A.2d 1281, 1283 (1989), we stated: As a general matter, the federal exclusionary rule applies to criminal proceedings. However the Supreme Court has extended the rule to at least one civil proceeding in One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 85 S.Ct. 1246, 14 L.Ed.2d 170 (1965). There the Court held that illegally obtained contraband evidence could not be admitted in an automobile forfeiture case. Noting that the cost of forfeiture was quasi-punitive in nature and exceeded the cost of the criminal fines, the Court reasoned that [i]t would be anomalous indeed, under these circumstances, to hold that in the criminal proceeding the illegally seized evidence is excludable, while in the forfeiture proceeding, requiring the determination that the criminal law has been violated, the same evidence would be admissible. One Plymouth Sedan, 380 U.S. at 701, 85 S.Ct. at 1251, 14 L.Ed.2d at 175. However since then, the Court has declined to extend the rule to other civil proceedings. See United States v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1976) (declining to apply the rule to federal tax proceedings where criminal evidence had been obtained by state police); Immigration and Naturalization Serv. v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984) (refusing to apply the rule in the context of civil deportation proceedings). [Emphasis added.] Cf. Whitaker v. Prince George's County, 307 Md. 368, 382, 514 A.2d 4, 11 (1986) (Though [ Janis ] cannot be said to stand for the proposition that evidence may never be excluded in a civil proceeding, it nonetheless severely undermined those cases in lower courts which applied the exclusionary rule to civil proceedings.) Neither Sheetz, Janis nor Whitaker dealt directly with forfeiture proceedings. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046, declined to extend the exclusionary rule to a civil tax proceeding against an illegal bookmaker. Sheetz, 315 Md. at 215-16, 553 A.2d at 1284-85, held that the exclusionary rule was inapplicable to administrative discharge proceedings unless improper motivation by the investigators could be shown. Finally, Whitaker, 307 Md. at 380, 514 A.2d at 11, distinguished Plymouth Sedan in holding the exclusionary rule would not apply to the admissibility of items seized pursuant to a search warrant, even a defective warrant, in a public nuisance action in civil court. Although we recognize, as did the Court of Special Appeals, that the reach of the exclusionary rule has been limited since Mapp and Plymouth Sedan, see One 1995 Corvette, 119 Md.App. at 699-720, 706 A.2d at 49-58, we do not believe it to be appropriate, given the long and extensive history of reliance on Plymouth Sedan by the federal and state court systems, for this Court to attempt to overrule Plymouth Sedan. That is for the Supreme Court to do if it so chooses. It is our duty to continue to apply Plymouth Sedan. See In re Flowers, 474 N.W.2d 546, 548 (Iowa 1991) (We are unwilling to anticipate the demise of Plymouth Sedan ... in the absence of a clear indication from the Supreme Court that it is no longer to be followed.).