Court Opinion

ID: 9533635
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:33:25.963427+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:29:06.378322
License: Public Domain

STATON, Judge,
dissenting
I dissent. Although I fully agree with the majority’s analysis regarding the lack of probable cause supporting the search warrant, I do not agree that the good faith exception announced in Leon prevents the suppression of the evidence seized at Figert’s and Green’s trailer.
I agree with Figert and Green that the affidavit was so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render a belief in its existence unreasonable. The majority relies on the following facts in concluding that the police were justified in believing probable cause existed to search the third trailer: the trailers were closely situated at one address; there were a number of unidentified individuals around the trailers; the trailers were in a rural area; and drug purchases were made from residents of the first and second trailers. First, it has been clear since Thompson v. State that a single street number does not justify entry into separate residences at that address. Thompson, 154 N.E. at 279. Second, that there were “unidentified individuals” around the Farm lacks any inferential value whatsoever on the issue of probable cause.
Third, drug purchases from residents of the first and second trailers logically establishes only that: the drug dealers five in the first two trailers, or more significantly for this appeal, the dealers do not live in the third trailer. “Officers must have a reasonable knowledge of what the law prohibits.” Woods, 514 N.E.2d at 1282. “The principle that a logical connection must be shown between the items to be seized and the place to be searched so as to establish probable cause is a basic concept within the reasonable knowledge of a police officer. This is a core concept of criminal jurisprudence which is found in both case law and statute.” Stabenow v. State, 495 N.E.2d 197, 202 (Ind.Ct. App.1986). That the drug dealers lived in the first two trailers logically implicates only those two residences.
Fourth, I attribute no weight to the fact that the trailers are in a rural area. If the case law addressing searches of multiunit dwellings stands for any proposition, it is this: criminal activity by a suspect, without more, does not justify entry into the separate residences of the suspect’s neighbors, no matter how closely situated to the suspect’s residence the neighbors may be. I cannot agree that this proposition should be of less force in a rural setting, especially in a rural state such as Indiana.
Finally, as noted by the Majority, any inference of communal drug trafficking is undermined by the fact that on one occasion the drug purchase was removed from the Farm since the dealer’s parents were home at the time.
The good faith exception holds police to an objective standard of reasonableness, as it must for the Fourth Amendment to have meaning. Leon, 468 U.S. at 922. Viewing the above facts objectively, I do not agree that the police in this case could have reasonably relied upon the affidavit. I acknowledge that the good faith exception will necessarily only apply in situations where there is less than probable cause. Nevertheless, the Fourth Amendment still commands that there be more than a mere suspicion to justify a search. Woods, 514 N.E.2d at 1280. A mere suspicion is all that is established by the probable cause affidavit with respect to the third trailer. That the police may have misunderstood the law in this area or attached greater significance to the facts in the affidavit than is otherwise warranted is of no moment in our analysis. The good faith exception should not be utilized in such a manner that State police action becomes a fait accompli.
*1322Drugs are clearly high on the public’s list of evils to be aggressively eradicated. Police and other public officials have responded to the public’s wishes accordingly. These public officials engaged in the competitive enterprise of ferreting out drugs may not, due to their commitment and zeal, always operate in a detached and unbiased manner. The public fervor over drugs can color perception and urge the turning of one’s head to invasions of privacy in the interest of pursuing a legitimate and popular end. When free people find themselves in this type of environment, the judiciary would be wise to pay particular attention to the admonishments of our forefathers as expressed through the commands of the Fourth Amendment.
I doubt anyone’s sense of justice is offended by the fate awaiting Figert and Green. However, we not only decide cases, but we also set precedent and establish law which directly impacts the lives of over five million Hoosiers. Should the day come when an innocent citizen’s door is opened to the State because the citizen lives in close proximity to a drug dealer who has “unidentified individuals” in and around the property, there may well be a collective pause to contemplate how we arrived at such a state of affairs. I fear we may have taken a step in that direction today. I would reverse.