Opinion ID: 202148
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Presence of a Member of the Media

Text: 29 According to Boulanger, the officers conducting the search of the apartment brought a member of the media along during the execution of the search warrant. In addition to arguing that this indicates that the officers did not think he was as dangerous as they claimed, Boulanger argues that the presence of a media member itself provides a rationale for finding a Fourth Amendment violation. Boulanger concedes that he did not raise this claim below and that our review is for plain error. Under this standard, Boulanger must demonstrate that (1) there was an error, (2) that was clear or obvious, (3) affected his substantial rights, and (4) seriously impaired the fairness, integrity, or public reputation of judicial proceedings. United States v. Walter, 434 F.3d 30, 39 (1st Cir.2006). 30 We begin by noting that the Supreme Court has held that it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment for police to bring members of the media or other third parties into a home during the execution of a warrant when the presence of the third parties in the home was not in aid of the execution of the warrant. Wilson v. Layne, 526 U.S. 603, 614, 119 S.Ct. 1692, 143 L.Ed.2d 818 (1999). In the instant case, however, Boulanger's argument faces two problems. 31 First, the record is unclear as to whether a member of the media ever actually entered the apartment. Prior to trial, Boulanger served a subpoena on the media member (a photographer), who filed a motion to quash. At the suppression hearing, Boulanger's counsel and the district court discussed the motion to quash. During the course of the discussion, the court stated [i]t's agreed that [the photographer] was there. You can make your argument based on that. The court then declined to enforce the subpoena. 13 On appeal, Boulanger argues that, when the court stated that the photographer was there, it meant that he was there in the apartment during the search. However, the government claims that there is no evidence that the police brought the photographer along or that the photographer was ever inside the apartment. Rather, the government claims that the photographer appeared at the scene of the search on his own and never entered the apartment building where Boulanger was arrested. According to the government, there simply means there at the scene and does indicate that the photographer was ever inside the apartment. 32 Confronted with these differing accounts of where exactly the media member was, we are unable to discern any plain error. Simply put, it is Boulanger's burden to show both that the media member was actually inside the apartment and that this affected his substantial rights. He has done neither. It was Boulanger's responsibility to clarify to the district court that by there, he meant in the apartment. The district court apparently did not see it that way, because it saw no problems with a member of the media being there, which would indicate that it thought there meant outside of the building. Given two interpretations of what there meant, and without any hard evidence in the record to indicate whether a media member was ever in the apartment, we do not find any plain error. 14 33 Second, even if the photographer did enter the apartment, Boulanger has provided no evidence that he discovered or developed any evidence. In a footnote in Wilson, the Court stated that 34 [e]ven though such actions [the presence of the media member] might violate the Fourth Amendment, if the police are lawfully present, the violation of the Fourth Amendment is the presence of the media and not the presence of the police in the home. We have no occasion here to decide whether the exclusionary rule would apply to any evidence discovered or developed by the media representatives. 35 526 U.S. at 614, 119 S.Ct. 1692 n. 2. In the instant case, in the absence of evidence that a media member discovered or developed any evidence, we see no reason to even consider applying the exclusionary rule to evidence found by the police as a result of a valid search warrant.