Court Opinion

ID: 9793789
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:53:01.747616+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:06:53.348443
License: Public Domain

FROEB, Judge,
dissenting in part:
The majority view in this case surrounds a convicted offender on probation with a constitutional shield against close supervision. I do not think it is required by the fourth amendment.
The decision to either send a criminal to prison or place him on supervised probation is one of the most difficult which faces a trial judge. Writers from every quarter say that rehabilitation is more likely when a defendant can keep his job, support his family and make his amends in the community outside of prison. To accomplish this, the trial judge should have the right to closely circumscribe the offender’s conduct, if he is placed on probation. One critical means of doing this is to provide that so long as the offender is under the supervision of the court he can be searched without a warrant. When he successfully completes his probationary period he has earned back his right to that measure of fourth amendment privacy which he lost following his conviction. Without the right to supervise closely an offender who is a marginal candidate for probation, the trial judge may have no choice but to send him to prison as the only alternative safe to the public.
I agree with the language of the California Supreme Court in People v. Mason, 5 Cal.3d 759, 97 Cal.Rptr. 302, 488 P.2d 630 (1971), upholding a similar condition of probation:
“Defendant contends that a probation condition which requires submission to a warrantless search constitutes an unreasonable invasion of his Fourth Amendment rights. We have heretofore suggested, however, that persons conditionally released to society, such as parolees, may have a reduced expectation of privacy, thereby rendering certain intrusions by governmental authorities ‘reasonable’ which otherwise would be invalid under traditional constitutional concepts, at least to the extent that such intrusions are necessitated by legitimate govern*135mental demands. (See In re Martinez, 1 Cal.3d 641, 647, fn. 6, 83 Cal.Rptr. 382, 463 P.2d 734; cf. People v. Gilkey, 6 Cal.App.3d 183, 186-188, 85 Cal.Rptr. 642, and cases cited.) Thus, a probationer who has been granted the privilege of probation on condition that he submit at any time to a warrantless search may have no reasonable expectation of traditional Fourth Amendment protection. [Followed by a footnote:]
“We do not intend to suggest that one who has accepted such a condition to the grant of probation is thereafter barred from objecting to the unreasonable manner in which that condition is carried out by police officers. For example, a probationer who claims unlawful harrassment by officers in executing a search may seek appropriate relief from the trial court, including an amendment of the order of probation. (See People v. Kern, supra, 264 Cal.App.2d 962, 965, 71 Cal. Rptr. 105.) Defendant makes no such claim in the instant case.” (97 Cal.Rptr. at 305, 488 P.2d at 633)
The majority has followed the plurality in United States v. Consuelo-Gonzalez, 521 F.2d 259 (9th Cir. 1975) rejecting a similar conviction of probation made applicable to a federal offender. It is of interest to note that thirteen judges of the Court of Appeals heard this case. Six judges concurred in the lead opinion, three others concurred specially, three dissented in a single opinion and one dissented in a separate opinion. It should also be noted that the decision is bottomed on a construction of the language and intent of the Federal Probation Act (18 U.S.C.A. § 3651). Although I do not venture an attempt in this dissent to distinguish probation in the State of Arizona from federal probation, the lead opinion in Consuelo-Gonzalez suggests that state statutes pertaining to probation might involve different considerations regarding the constitutional issue at hand. The opinion in Consuelo-Gonzalez points out that:
“It is obvious, however, that opinions differ as to what controls are improper, and we express no opinion here regarding the extent to which the states constitutionally may impose conditions more intrusive on the probationer’s privacy than those we here have indicated are proper under the Federal Probation Act.” (521 F.2d at 266)
The realities of probation supervision, particularly in the urban areas of the state, require that police and law enforcement officers be directly concerned with the activities of offenders on probation status and that they be given the same latitude to deal with probationers that probation officers themselves can exercise. It is common knowledge that in Maricopa County, due to the shortage of personnel, probation officers are often required to supervise in excess of 100 defendants on probation. This burden results in minimal supervision of each defendant, often limited to periodic reporting and telephone calls. The degree of potential supervision is a factor which the trial judge must weigh, when considering probation for an offender. In order to function with any degree of responsibility, a probation officer must depend upon the vigilance of police officers and law enforcement personnel in the field to determine whether the terms and conditions of probation are being observed by the defendant involved.
For this reason, I do not think it unreasonable that a trial judge authorize a probation officer or a police officer to search the property or person of a defendant on probation without a search warrant under reasonable circumstances. Of course, the trial judge should impose such a condition of probation only where it is necessary. If there is abuse of the term of probation it can and should be modified by the court where required by the circumstances. In addition to a requirement of reasonableness of any search pursuant to the condition of probation in question, I would limit the use of evidence seized as a result of a warrant-less probation search to probation revocation proceedings, unless the search otherwise satisfied the requirements of the fourth amendment.
*136As to the other issue in this case (whether the plea of no contest was valid), I concur with the majority.