Opinion ID: 886570
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Expectation of Privacy

Text: ¶ 17 We previously addressed the constitutionality of the use of drug-detecting canines in State v. Scheetz (1997), 286 Mont. 41, 950 P.2d 722. That case noted that search analysis to determine proper constitutional criminal procedure in Montana is typically conducted under Article II, Sections 10 and 11 of the Montana Constitution, in addition to the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 45, 950 P.2d at 724. The threshold question in a search case is whether there is an expectation of privacy which society is prepared to recognize as objectively reasonable. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 46, 950 P.2d at 724. Assuming there is a reasonable expectation of privacy, the next question to consider is whether or not the nature of the state's intrusion is reasonable under the circumstances. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 50, 950 P.2d at 727. Cf. Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n (1989), 489 U.S. 602, 619, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 1414, 103 L.Ed.2d 639. ¶ 18 In Scheetz we held that the defendant in that case had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the odors emanating from luggage at an airport in part because the luggage was checked. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 50, 950 P.2d at 727. We further held that although a person might maintain some privacy interest in the contents of their checked luggage, the use of a drug-detecting canine to search luggage at an airport did not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy because the nature of the government's action was minimally intrusive and only revealed limited information about contraband. We therefore held that no search occurred. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 51, 950 P.2d at 728. ¶ 19 In this case, the State asks us to apply the reasoning of Scheetz and hold that Tackitt had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the odors emanating from his vehicle. We disagree. Our holding in Scheetz was premised on the fact that luggage that a person brings to the airport is generally subject to observation by the public or the state ... [and that] a person cannot expect to conceal completely from the public the odor of the luggage ... since it must be handled by others. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 49, 950 P.2d at 727. We further noted that by checking his luggage, the defendant lost a significant expectation of privacy because he did not maintain possession and control of the luggage. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 50, 950 P.2d at 727. Therefore, the conclusion that no search occurred relied on our holding that Scheetz had no reasonable expectation of privacy under the facts specific to the situation. ¶ 20 The same is simply not true in this case. We have repeatedly stated that Montana's Constitution provides its citizens with broader privacy protections. State v. Elison, 2000 MT 288, ¶ 46, 302 Mont. 228, ¶ 46, 14 P.3d 456, ¶ 46. Further, we have also previously stated: What a person knowingly exposes to the public is not protected, but what an individual seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected. Elison, ¶ 49 (citing State v. Bullock (1995), 272 Mont. 361, 375, 901 P.2d 61, 70). Specifically, in Elison we held that Montana's citizens have a reasonable expectation of privacy in areas of their vehicles that are out of plain view. We stated: We do believe that when a person rides in an automobile, that person accepts that their actions and any items left uncovered on the dashboard or on the seat are no longer private because of their public visibility.... However, when a person takes precautions to place items behind or underneath seats, in trunks or glove boxes, or uses other methods of ensuring that those items may not be accessed and viewed without permission, there is no obvious reason to believe that any privacy interest with regard to those items has been surrendered simply because those items happen to be in an automobile. Elison, ¶ 51. Therefore, when a person stores something in a concealed area of a vehicle and seeks to preserve their privacy, that privacy has constitutional protections. ¶ 21 Based on Elison, the case at bar is unlike the situation in Scheetz because here, Tackitt maintained control of his vehicle and had the right to exclude others from its enclosed, concealed areas. Further, none of Tackitt's actions indicate he surrendered this control as did the defendant in Scheetz. Indeed Tackitt was not even driving the vehicle on the public roadways at the time. Accordingly, under our holding in Elison, Tackitt had a reasonable expectation that anything stored in the trunk of his vehicle would remain private. ¶ 22 In making this holding, we note that our decision is based on Tackitt's expectation of privacy in the trunk of his vehicle, not on any expectation of privacy in the area next to his residence in which his vehicle was parked. In Bullock, we held that in order for a person to have an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in open lands such that entry is not permitted, that expectation must be unmistakably apparent by, for example, No Trespassing signs, gates, fences or other means to convey that privacy expectation to the public. Bullock, 272 Mont. at 384, 901 P.2d at 76. In this case, the District Court's finding that the area in which Tackitt's vehicle was parked was freely accessible by the public is supported by testimony of both the manager of the Kalispell mobile home park and the involved officers and by photographic evidence in the record showing the parking area. Therefore, the court's finding is not clearly erroneous. Further, there is no dispute between the parties that Tackitt did nothing to evidence a privacy expectation in the open area where his vehicle was parked. Therefore, our conclusion that Tackitt had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the enclosed and concealed spaces of his vehicle is in no way dependent on where his vehicle was parked. We hold that the use of the canine sniff of Tackitt's vehicle was a search under Article II, Sections 10 and 11 of Montana's Constitution and our case law interpreting those sections.