Opinion ID: 2604769
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant's rights

Text: In reaching its conclusion that Waring did not have standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant's rights, the court of appeals held that the adoption of Alaska Evidence Rule 412, [5] an exclusionary rule, did not abrogate the traditional requirement of standing in search and seizure cases. 638 P.2d at 204. We agree with the reasoning behind this holding. Evidence Rule 412, which became effective on August 1, 1979, superseded Criminal Rule 26(g). [6] As we indicated in State v. Sears, 553 P.2d 907 (Alaska 1976), the notes of the Criminal Rules Revision Commission, which drafted Rule 26(g) in 1972, state that Rule 26(g) was proposed `to make clear that the protections of the Miranda Rule are not eroded.' 553 P.2d at 910. [7] There is nothing, however, in these notes or in subsequent case law [8] which indicates that Rule 26(g) addressed the standing issue in search and seizure cases. Evidence Rule 412 did not abolish the standing requirement in search and seizure cases. Although the standing issue is not addressed in the text of the Rule, the Commentary to Rule 412 indicates as much. The Commentary discusses the two exceptions in Rule 412 to the general exclusionary rule, both of which regard the use of illegally obtained evidence in perjury prosecutions. It states, in part: The second exception governs evidence obtained in violation of the fourth amendment and/or its Alaska counterpart, article I, section 14. Again a limitation is imposed: the evidence ... must not have been obtained in substantial violation of rights. ... The simple reference to rights is intended to emphasize that this section has no bearing on the law of standing in search and seizure cases. Alaska R.Evid. Commentary at 104-05 (emphasis added). The express language of the Commentary indicates that Rule 412 has no bearing  no effect  on the standing requirement, which implies that some form of a standing requirement remains intact. We believe that the Commentary accurately reflects the conclusion that the scope of Evidence Rule 412 is limited by the standing requirement in search and seizure cases. The extent to which the standing requirement limits the exclusionary rule is a question of first impression in Alaska. Nevertheless, two previous decisions concerning the scope of the exclusionary rule, Elson v. State, 659 P.2d 1195, 1202 (Alaska 1983), and State v. Sears, 553 P.2d at 912, provide some guidance. In Elson and Sears, we held that the determination of whether the exclusionary rule applies to certain post-trial proceedings required a balancing of the purpose behind excluding illegally obtained evidence and the interest in admitting reliable evidence in those proceedings. The purpose of the exclusionary rule is two-fold: to deter police from using unconstitutional methods of law enforcement, Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 1692, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081, 1091 (1961), and to preserve the integrity of the judicial system by not permitting the courts to be a party to the lawless invasion of a citizen's constitutional rights. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 13, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1875, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 901 (1968); Sears, 553 P.2d at 912. In Elson and Sears, we noted that police generally conduct searches and arrests for the purpose of prosecuting and convicting an individual, not to enhance the sentence or revoke the parole of a defendant; therefore, the deterrent effect of excluding evidence in sentencing and probation proceedings would be minimal. Elson, 659 P.2d at 1203-04; State v. Sears, 553 P.2d at 912. In both cases, we concluded that this marginal deterrent value was outweighed by the needs of the probation and sentencing systems. Elson, 659 P.2d at 1202; Sears, 553 P.2d at 913. Nevertheless, we recognized that under some circumstances the deterrent effect of applying an exclusionary rule in probation and sentencing proceedings would be significant, e.g., if the illegal searches and arrests were consciously directed toward those proceedings. In Sears we stated: In the event the lawless arrest and search or seizure is carried out by enforcement personnel with knowledge or reason to believe the suspect was a probationer, we would then apply the exclusionary rule in the probation revocation proceeding. For, in such a circumstance, the bar of the exclusionary rule would act as a significant deterrent to searches and arrests consciously directed toward probationers. 553 P.2d at 914. Following this reasoning, we held in Elson that if evidence was obtained for purposes of influencing the sentencing court, then it is inadmissible at sentencing. 659 P.2d at 1204 n. 28. In considering whether a defendant has standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant's rights in search and seizure cases, we must also balance the competing interests, i.e., whether the interest in introducing reliable evidence that was obtained in violation of a co-defendant's fourth amendment rights outweighs the deterrent effect of excluding such evidence. Similar to our holdings in Sears and Elson, we believe that law enforcement officers generally conduct searches and seizures of an individual's person or property for the purpose of prosecuting that individual, rather than for the purpose of prosecuting a co-defendant. If a search or seizure were unlawful, any resulting evidence would be excluded at the trial of the defendant whose rights were violated. [9] To apply the exclusionary rule a second time in a co-defendant's trial would not serve any additional deterrent purpose. In Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. 165, 89 S.Ct. 961, 22 L.Ed.2d 176 (1969), the Supreme Court balanced this marginal deterrent effect against the need for reliable evidence at trial and decided not to abolish the standing requirement. The deterrent values of preventing the incrimination of those whose rights the police have violated have been considered sufficient to justify the suppression of probative evidence even though the case against the defendant is weakened or destroyed. We adhere to that judgment. But we are not convinced that the additional benefits of extending the exclusionary rule to other defendants would justify further encroachment upon the public interest in prosecuting those accused of crime and having them acquitted or convicted on the basis of all the evidence which exposes the truth. 394 U.S. at 174-75, 89 S.Ct. at 966-67, 22 L.Ed.2d at 187. Although we agree with the Supreme Court that allowing standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant's rights would not deter unlawful conduct in most situations, we believe deterrence would be furthered by such an allowance when the unlawful conduct is intentionally directed toward a particular defendant. The facts of Dimmick v. State, 473 P.2d 616 (Alaska 1970), which discusses the standing rule in the context of fifth amendment violations, illustrate the need for this exception to a standing requirement. Dimmick's co-defendant, Herman, requested an attorney after being given Miranda warnings. The police interrogated Herman without complying with his request, and his subsequent statement was used against Dimmick at Dimmick's trial. A police officer testified at trial that the violation of Herman's rights was directed toward Dimmick: `[T]he decision was made to go ahead and interview [Herman] after he had requested an attorney full-well knowing that then this confession could not be used against him but merely for the value of the confession against Mr. Dimmick.' 473 P.2d at 619. If the police knew that the unlawful confession could not have been used against Dimmick, there would have been no reason to violate Herman's rights. Thus, the deterrent effect of applying the exclusionary rule would be significant when a particular defendant is the target of the violation of another person's constitutional rights. Turning to the other purpose of the exclusionary rule, we have indicated that judicial integrity requires the exclusion of evidence if it is obtained by gross or shocking police misconduct: We can conceive of circumstances which would lead to the application of the exclusionary rule to revocation of probation proceedings. E.g., Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 72 S.Ct. 205, 96 L.Ed. 183 (1952). In short, police misconduct which shocks the conscience, or is of a nature that calls for the judiciary, as a matter of judicial integrity, to disassociate itself from benefits derivable therefrom, would lead us to invoke the exclusionary rule. State v. Sears, 553 P.2d at 914. Furthermore, we believe that both purposes of the exclusionary rule, deterring misconduct and preserving judicial integrity, require the exclusion of evidence when police knowingly and intentionally violate a co-defendant's rights. In Dimmick, two of the four participating justices would have reversed Dimmick's conviction on this ground. [10] Justice Rabinowitz objected to the deliberate refusal of the police to grant Herman's in-custody request for assistance of counsel. 473 P.2d at 623 (Rabinowitz, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part). Justice Connor also sought to apply the exclusionary rule to police conduct which is intentionally or flagrantly illegal. 473 P.2d at 629 (Connor, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part). Underlying this exception to the standing requirement is our refusal to condone improper police conduct. If a defendant were not given standing to assert the knowing violation of a co-defendant's rights, police could be encouraged to intentionally violate the rights of persons who will not be prosecuted in the hopes that the illegally obtained evidence could eventually be used against another defendant. Refusing to permit standing would represent an open invitation to adopt such procedures as a standard method for the solution of particular crimes or for conducting generalized crime hunts. Dimmick, 473 P.2d at 623 (Rabinowitz, J., concurring in part, dissenting in part). To summarize, we hold that a defendant has standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant's [11] fourth amendment rights if he or she can show (1) that a police officer obtained the evidence as a result of gross or shocking misconduct, or (2) that the officer deliberately violated a co-defendant's rights. [12] In this case, the court of appeals followed the federal rule that a defendant cannot under any circumstances assert the violation of a co-defendant's fourth amendment rights. G.R. v. State, 638 P.2d at 204. See Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 133-34, 99 S.Ct. 421, 424-25, 58 L.Ed.2d 387, 394 (1978); Alderman v. United States, 394 U.S. at 171-72, 89 S.Ct. at 965, 22 L.Ed.2d at 185-86. We therefore find it necessary to remand this case so that a determination can be made whether either exception to the standing requirement is applicable.