Court Opinion

ID: 9680353
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:30:30.915358+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:28.210131
License: Public Domain

Robert L. Brown, Justice, concurring in part; dissenting in part. I agree with the majority opinion in certain critical respects. First, I, too, would disavow the principle that the mere fact a person is a drug dealer establishes probable cause to search that person’s home. That principle was best illustrated in a statement by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: In the Ninth Circuit, we have recognized that “[i]n the case of drug dealers, evidence is likely to be found where the dealers live.” United States v. Terry, 911 F.2d 272, 275 (9th Cir. 1990) (quoting United States v. Angulo-Lopez, 791 F.2d at 1394, 1399 (9th Cir. 1986)). United States v. Pitts, 6 F.3d 1366, 1369 (9th Cir. 1993). The State endorsed the position of the Ninth Circuit at oral argument in the instant case. Were we to likewise adopt the position that dealing drugs automatically justifies a search of the dealer’s home, we would be effectively undermining the Fourth Amendment. In addition, I agree with the majority that Officer Evans was acting in good faith, as defined by United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897 (1984), when he filed his affidavit for a search warrant. The Court in Leon looked to an objective standard of whether a reasonably well trained police officer would have believed that probable cause for a search warrant existed. As already indicated, certain jurisdictions like the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals believe that the mere fact of drug dealing is enough to justify a search of the dealer’s residence. Certainly, when there is a basis in court decisions for that position, I cannot say that Officer Evans was acting other than in good faith in this case. Where I disagree with the majority is in its conclusion that there was no reasonable nexus between the cultivation of marijuana and Cloud’s residence to justify the issuance of a search warrant. Officer Evans’s affidavit set out the following: • He personally observed Yancey and Cloud exit their Jeep, carry water jugs to the field, and water what appeared to be marijuana plants at 9:30 p.m. on June 17, 1998. • Officer Evans followed the Jeep back to Cloud’s residence and talked to both men. • The men told Officer Evans they had been “flogging,” which did not comport with what he had just seen. • Officer Evans looked in the back of the Jeep and saw several empty plastic jugs, some partially filled jugs, and a metal five-gallon can. • On January 19, 1998, Officer Evans returned to the marijuana patch with two other law enforcement officers and found eighteen marijuana plants growing either in the field or in containers. • On June 19 and June 22, 1998, the officers harvested the marijuana plants for evidence. Two plants were found growing in plastic buckets in the field. • Cloud, over the past several years, had been convicted for possession of controlled substances on a number of occasions. Officer Evans’s affidavit, in my judgment, showed a direct connection between the cultivation of the marijuana and Cloud’s residence. The officer followed the two men directly from the marijuana patch to Cloud’s residence and observed water jugs and a metal container in the back of the Jeep at the residence. Later, police officers found two marijuana plants in “plastic buckets” out at the patch. I think a reasonable inference could be made that the plastic jugs were not only used for watering but also as containers for the marijuana plants. Indeed, State Police Investigator 'Wendall Jines testified at the suppression hearing that marijuana plants are usually started in a house or shed in small containers and then transferred to the woods until harvesting. Investigator Jines testified that in the residences or sheds where the plants are started, the police usually find potting soil, grow lights, fertilizers and the like. After harvesting, dried leaves and buds are found in the residences or sheds which are used for processing the marijuana. Investigator Jines was not aware of any other place where inside growing or processing by Yancey and Cloud could take place other than their residences. Thus, the marijuana had to be processed somewhere, that is, converted from raw, plant matter into a product marketable on the street. Though I disagree that dealing drugs justifies an automatic search of a dealer’s home, I certainly believe that one factor in establishing reasonable cause to search a cultivator’s residence is that the marijuana had to be processed at a location other than the field, and a cultivator’s home is a reasonable location for that work to be done. And, again, in the case of Yancey and Cloud, Officer Evans followed them from the field to Cloud’s home and saw the jugs in the Jeep. Investigator Jines testified that those were the only places he knew of which were available to the two men for cultivating and processing marijuana. Officer Evans, a sheriffs deputy, and a state police officer investigated this matter over a period of six days and put together their case for the municipal judge. I conclude that a direct connection was made between the marijuana patch and Cloud’s home, although I agree with the majority that a connection was not established for Yancey’s home. Accordingly, I would affirm the trial court’s denial of the motion to suppress with respect to Cloud’s residence on the basis that the trial court’s ruling was not clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. See Nance v. State, 323 Ark. 583, 918 S.W.2d 114 (1996). I would affirm the search of Yancey’s residence because Officer Evans met the objective standard of good faith under United States v. Leon, supra. Thus, I concur with the majority decision in part and dissent in part.