Opinion ID: 2091620
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: parameters of the reasonable expectation of privacy test

Text: In adopting the reasonable expectation of privacy test to determine standing, it is obvious that the parameters of this test are not delimited by a fine line. It offers no exact template that can be mechanically imposed upon a set of facts to determine whether or not standing is warranted. It does, however, provide the normal common-law value of general direction and practical flexibility. Justice Powell in his concurring opinion in Rakas, supra, pp 152-155, wrote a useful primer on the reasonable expectation of privacy test. We concur with the following remarks, and hold them applicable to art 1, § 11:  The ultimate question, therefore, is whether one's claim to privacy from government intrusion is reasonable in light of all the surrounding circumstances. As the dissenting opinion states, this standard `will not provide law enforcement officials with a bright line between the protected and the unprotected.' See post, at 168. Whatever the application of this standard may lack in ready administration, it is    faithful to the purposes of the Fourth Amendment   . In considering the reasonableness of asserted privacy expectations, the Court has recognized that no single factor invariably will be determinative. Thus, the Court has examined whether a person invoking the protection of the Fourth Amendment took normal precautions to maintain his privacy  that is, precautions customarily taken by those seeking privacy. See, e.g., United States v Chadwick, 433 US 1, 11; 97 S Ct 2476; 53 L Ed 2d 538 (1977). (`By placing personal effects inside a double-locked footlocker, respondents manifested an expectation that the contents would remain free from public examination'); Katz v United States, supra, at 352 (`One who occupies [a telephone booth], shuts the door behind him, and pays the toll that permits him to place a call is surely entitled to assume that the words he utters into the mouthpiece will not be broadcast to the world'). Similarly, the Court has looked to the way a person has used a location, to determine whether the Fourth Amendment should protect his expectations of privacy. In Jones v United States, supra , for example, the Court found that the defendant had a Fourth Amendment privacy interest in an apartment in which he had slept and in which he kept his clothing. The Court on occasion also has looked to history to discern whether certain types of government intrusion were perceived to be objectionable by the Framers of the Fourth Amendment. See United States v Chadwick, supra, at 7-9. And, as the Court states today, property rights reflect society's explicit recognition of a person's authority to act as he wishes in certain areas, and therefore should be considered in determining whether an individual's expectations of privacy are reasonable. See Alderman v United States, 394 US 165; 89 S Ct 961; 22 L Ed 2d 176 (1969). In People v Nash, supra , where we equated the protectable interest of the Fourth Amendment with the protectable interest of art 1, § 11, this Court expressed its agreement with the principles set forth in Justice Powell's concurring opinion in Rakas. We stated: An expectation of privacy is legitimate if the individual has an actual, subjective expectation of privacy and that actual expectation is one that society recognizes as reasonable. United States v Knotts, 460 US 276; 103 S Ct 1081; 75 L Ed 2d 55 (1983). Whether an expectation of privacy exists in both the subjective and the objective sense is determined by scrutinizing the totality of circumstances surrounding the alleged intrusion. United States v Hawkins, 681 F2d 1343 (CA 11, 1982). See Rawlings [v Kentucky, 448 US 98; 100 S Ct 2556; 65 L Ed 2d 633 (1980)]; Rakas, supra (opinion of Powell, J., concurring). People v Nash, supra, p 205. In accordance with the foregoing, we wish to emphasize that the expectation of privacy must be one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. In Rakas, supra, p 141, fn 9, the United States Supreme Court disparaged the idea that a person present in a stolen automobile at the time of a search may object to the lawfulness of the search of the automobile. In a slightly different vein, Jones, supra, p 267, referred to those who, by virtue of their wrongful presence, cannot invoke the privacy of the premises. In sum, we hold that before a defendant may attack the propriety of a search or seizure, that search or seizure must have infringed upon an interest of the defendant which art 1, § 11 was designed to protect. In making this determination, the court must decide whether the defendant had an expectation of privacy in the object of the search and seizure and whether that expectation is one that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. The court should consider the totality of the circumstances.