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

Heading: The Nature of the State's Intrusion

Text: ¶ 23 Having determined that Tackitt had a constitutionally protected privacy interest in the trunk of his vehicle, we now assess the nature of the state's intrusion in order to determine whether the State unreasonably violated Tackitt's privacy right. As mentioned above, the State briefly asserts that the use of drug-detecting canines under these circumstances should not require a warrant, but should instead be allowed when the police have particularized suspicion to believe criminal activity involving drugs is taking place in the area to be surveyed by the canine. Presumably, the State bases its argument on the minimally intrusive nature of the use of a drug-detecting canine and the limited information regarding contraband revealed by that use. Tackitt asserts that under the broader protections of Montana's Constitution, the use of drug-detecting canines should require a warrant. On this point, we agree with the State. ¶ 24 We have often stated that warrantless searches are per se unreasonable, subject to a few carefully drawn exceptions. Elison, ¶ 39. One of those exceptions is the investigatory stop, more commonly known as a Terry stop. State v. Gopher (1981), 193 Mont. 189, 194, 631 P.2d 293, 296 (citing Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889). This exception to the warrant requirement is intended to guide on-the-street investigating and allows law enforcement to stop persons when they have a particularized suspicion that criminal activity is currently taking place. Terry, 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879. Particularized suspicion results from objective data from which an experienced police officer can make certain inferences that a person is or has been engaged in wrongdoing. Elison, ¶ 15. ¶ 25 In United States v. Place (1983), 462 U.S. 696, 103 S.Ct. 2637, 77 L.Ed.2d 110, the United States Supreme Court adopted the rationale of an investigatory stop to address the constitutionality of the use of drug-detecting canines to sniff luggage at airports when the luggage is in the owner's possession. The Court reasoned that in balancing the competing interests of an individual's privacy versus the government's interest in preventing drug trafficking, the use of drug-detecting canines was reasonable based on less than probable cause due to the minimally intrusive and limited revealing nature of a canine sniff. Place, 462 U.S. at 706-07, 103 S.Ct. at 2644-45. As a result, current federal precedent allows the use of drug-detecting canines to sniff closed containers that are in public areas when the police have particularized suspicion to believe a crime involving drugs is taking place. ¶ 26 The question before us then is whether this same reasoning applies under Montana's Constitution. Both parties cite case law from various other states and from the federal circuit courts in support of their arguments. Indeed, we surveyed a number of these cases during our analysis in Scheetz. Further, a review of these cases reveals that courts have come to different results depending on the circumstances of the situation. See State v. Torres (1994), 230 Conn. 372, 645 A.2d 529 (surveying twenty federal and state cases). While there are numerous variations among the jurisdictions, the cases roughly break down into three categories. First, in cases involving searches of a person or searches of residences, courts have generally determined that the expectation of privacy is paramount. Accordingly, these situations require probable cause, and a warrant when no other exception to the warrant requirement applies, for the use of drug-detecting canines, despite the minimally intrusive nature of the sniff survey. See e.g. United States v. Thomas (2d Cir.1985), 757 F.2d 1359, cert. denied sub nom. Fisher v. United States (1985), 474 U.S. 819, 106 S.Ct. 66, 88 L.Ed.2d 54 (probable cause required for canine sniff outside residence); Commonwealth v. Martin (1993), 534 Pa. 136, 626 A.2d 556 (canine sniff of defendant's person requires probable cause). ¶ 27 On the opposite end of the spectrum, courts have also concluded that in certain circumstances no reasonable expectation of privacy exists and therefore the use of a drug-detecting canine does not constitute a search. See e.g. Scheetz, 286 Mont. at 51, 950 P.2d at 728 (no search due to no expectation of privacy in the odors emanating from checked luggage); People v. Mayberry (1982), 31 Cal.3d 335, 182 Cal.Rptr. 617, 644 P.2d 810 (canine sniff of all containers from a certain departure city in non-public baggage area of airport not state constitutional search); State v. Boyce (1986), 44 Wash.App. 724, 723 P.2d 28 (sniff of safety deposit box at bank not state constitutional search). ¶ 28 Between these two ends of the spectrum there are cases in which courts have either allowed the use of drug-detecting canines based on particularized suspicion due to the minimally intrusive nature of the sniff or have disallowed the use of the canine sniff absent demonstration of particularized suspicion. See e.g. Place, 462 U.S. at 706, 103 S.Ct. at 2644 (particularized suspicion required to use drug-detecting canines to survey luggage in possession of suspect at airport); City of Indianapolis v. Edmond (2000), 531 U.S. 32, 121 S.Ct. 447, 148 L.Ed.2d 333 (suspicionless use of drug-detecting canines at auto checkpoints violates Fourth Amendment); United States v. Quinn (1st Cir.1987), 815 F.2d 153 (reasonable, articulable suspicion required for canine sniff of stopped car); McGahan v. State (Alaska Ct.App.1991), 807 P.2d 506, 510-11 (canine sniff of warehouse exterior accessible to public is state constitutional search requiring reasonable, articulable suspicion); People v. Unruh (Colo.1986), 713 P.2d 370, 377-78, cert. denied, 476 U.S. 1171, 106 S.Ct. 2894, 90 L.Ed.2d 981 (1986) (canine sniff of locked safe in possession of police is state constitutional search requiring reasonable, articulable suspicion); State v. Pellicci (1990), 133 N.H. 523, 580 A.2d 710, 715-17 (canine sniff of vehicle's exterior is state constitutional search requiring reasonable, articulable suspicion); Commonwealth v. Johnston (1987), 515 Pa. 454, 530 A.2d 74 (canine sniff of rented storage locker requires reasonable, articulable suspicion). ¶ 29 After reviewing the case law, we are convinced that the better reasoned cases allow for a carefully drawn exception to the warrant requirement, but still require particularized suspicion when the area or object subject to the canine sniff is already exposed to the public. The government's interest in discouraging illegal drug trafficking is substantial. Further, this area of law enforcement involves investigation into trafficking activities that are difficult to detect because the activities are inherently transient and appear similar to innocent conduct on the surface. On the other side, as the facts of this case demonstrate, a search by a drug-detecting canine generally involves far less an intrusion than any other type of search technique and is uniquely selective, detecting in most cases only the presence of the particular type of contraband that the dog is trained to recognize. Accordingly, we hold that, given the greater protection afforded individual privacy under Montana's Constitution, the balance between governmental interests and individual interests in this case can best be struck by requiring particularized suspicion as a prerequisite for the use of a drug-detecting canine. ¶ 30 Our holding here is, moreover, in line with one of our previous cases in which we determined that, under limited circumstances, the particularized suspicion standard properly balances individual privacy and government law enforcement interests. Hulse v. Department of Justice, 1998 MT 108, ¶ 38, 289 Mont. 1, ¶ 38, 961 P.2d 75, ¶ 38 (particularized suspicion required for the use of field sobriety tests). However, we also make clear that the holding in this case is limited to the use of drug-detecting canines during police investigations. Accordingly, our conclusion here does not disturb the holdings of any past cases regarding the human detection of the odor of drugs. See generally State v. Schoendaller (1978), 176 Mont. 376, 382, 578 P.2d 730, 734 (odor of drugs emanating from car window not sufficient for probable cause to search a vehicle); but cf. State v. Means (1978), 177 Mont. 193, 199, 581 P.2d 406, 409 (odor of drugs emanating from house can be considered as one factor contributing to probable cause). ¶ 31 Accordingly, we hold that when a person maintains control of a container in which he has a reasonable expectation of privacy, but where the odors from that container are freely exposed to the public, particularized suspicion is required for the use of a canine to detect those odors. Therefore, based on this conclusion, we hold that particularized suspicion was required before the officers could use Dantz to conduct a sniff search of the exterior of Tackitt's vehicle. ¶ 32 2. Did the District Court properly conclude that if the use of a drug-detecting canine is a search, the State had particularized suspicion to conduct the investigatory search of Tackitt's vehicle? ¶ 33 We now address the question of whether Dantz's sniff of the exterior of Tackitt's vehicle was supported by particularized suspicion. The District Court concluded that all the other information in the warrant would have served as proper particularized suspicion for the canine sniff. Specifically, the court stated that the anonymous tip was sufficiently corroborated by the other information in the warrant. We disagree. ¶ 34 In this case the tip that served as the impetus of the warrant was anonymous. The parties agree that we have always required an anonymous tip be corroborated to establish particularized suspicion. Reesman, ¶ 28. However, corroboration must consist of more than merely innocent, public information. State v. Griggs, 2001 MT 211, ¶ 50, 306 Mont. 366, ¶ 50, 34 P.3d 101, ¶ 50. We appreciate that Reesman and Griggs address the sufficiency of corroboration of an anonymous tip in the context of our review of a search warrant for probable cause, as opposed to an analysis of particularized suspicion. However, the corroboration requirement in both instances must be the same. State v. Anderson (1993), 258 Mont. 510, 516, 853 P.2d 1245, 1249. Particularized suspicion must be based on objective data from which an experienced police officer can make the inference that a person is engaged in wrongdoing. Elison, ¶ 15. An anonymous tip lacking appropriate corroboration simply cannot qualify as objective data sufficient to support particularized suspicion, any more than it can support probable cause. ¶ 35 Here, the independent police investigation of Tackitt only corroborated innocent, public information such as where Tackitt lived and what cars he drove. Therefore, the corroboration of the tip rests on three things: the confidential reliable informant who no one can identify, Tackitt's past conviction for possession of paraphernalia, and the Task Force records regarding Tackitt's past alleged drug dealing. ¶ 36 Tackitt asserts that two of these pieces of information cannot be considered as a matter of law. First, Tackitt argues the corroboration from the confidential informant must be excluded because it was revealed during the suppression hearing that the involved officers could not remember who the informant was, nor could they find a record of the identity of the informant. Therefore, Tackitt asserts there is no way to verify the informant's reliability. Next, Tackitt asserts that the ten year old information from the Task Force records is stale. In its brief on appeal, the State fails to respond to Tackitt's argument regarding the confidential reliable informant that no one could identify. On the issue of Tackitt's past alleged activities, the State asserts that because the past information and the current charge allegedly involve ongoing activity, the previous Task Force records can properly be considered towards particularized suspicion. We agree with Tackitt. ¶ 37 As to the first issue, there can be no corroboration by a confidential reliable informant under circumstances where no one can even recall the identity of the informant. We were faced with a similar situation in Reesman in that there, the police attempted to corroborate an informant with information from an anonymous citizen who supposedly provided reliable information in the past. Reesman, ¶ 46. We stated that an anonymous informant could not logically serve as corroboration for an untested informant. Reesman, ¶ 46. Similarly, the anonymous informant in this case cannot be corroborated by a confidential informant who is, for all intents and purposes, anonymous because no one can identify him or her. For all we know, the two informants may have been the same person. ¶ 38 Furthermore, failing to remember the identity of the reliable confidential informant is a problem [that] simply does not have to exist at all. State v. Worrall, 1999 MT 55, ¶¶ 51-53, 293 Mont. 439, ¶¶ 51-53, 976 P.2d 968, ¶¶ 51-53. As we held in Worrall, when the ability to properly preserve necessary information is easily within reach of the police, we cannot give them the benefit of the doubt where a defendant's constitutional rights are concerned. Worrall, ¶¶ 54-55. Therefore, any corroboration from the mystery confidential reliable informant is insufficient for particularized suspicion here. ¶ 39 Tackitt next asserts that the information from the ten year old Task Force records is stale and cannot be considered. Again, we agree. We have addressed the issue of staleness many times. The general rule is that the determination of staleness depends on the nature of the property and activity in issue. State v. Walston (1989), 236 Mont. 218, 223, 768 P.2d 1387, 1390. Further, when criminal activity is continuing in nature more time may elapse before the information becomes stale. State v. Sarbaum (1995), 270 Mont. 176, 185, 890 P.2d 1284, 1290. ¶ 40 In State v. Valley (1992), 252 Mont. 489, 493, 830 P.2d 1255, 1258, we excised stale information that was the sole corroboration of an anonymous tip because it was eleven months to seven years old and because it did not contain any indication that contraband or evidence would presently be at the place to be searched. Likewise, in this case, the information from the Task Force records was in no way tied to the current tip by activity during the intervening seven to ten years. Therefore, the information was stale because it did not evidence activity that was continuing in nature. Therefore, this information also cannot be considered. ¶ 41 Excluding both these pieces of information removes all corroboration of the anonymous informant except Tackitt's misdemeanor conviction and the fact that Corporal Meehan confirmed the real property and vehicles that Tackitt owns. As mentioned, innocent, public information that anyone could discover cannot serve as corroboration of the criminal activity alleged by the anonymous informant. Further, a seven year old misdemeanor citation for possession of marijuana paraphernalia does not serve as sufficient corroboration for particularized suspicion here because it in no way corroborates the extensive drug trafficking implicated by the tip. Therefore, the officers did not have sufficient particularized suspicion to use Dantz to sniff the exterior of Tackitt's vehicle. Consequently, without the fact that Dantz alerted to the vehicle, the warrant to search Tackitt's residence and vehicle was not supported by probable cause and must fail. Therefore, the District Court erred in denying Tackitt's motion to suppress. ¶ 42 Finally, we note that Tackitt asserts on appeal that the warrant application did not contain sufficient information regarding Dantz's reliability and also asserts that the warrant granted was over-broad in scope. Because our resolution of the issues above regarding Tackitt's privacy rights and the need for particularized suspicion to use drug-detecting canines, we need not reach the additional issues raised Tackitt.