Court Opinion

ID: 9663390
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 23:37:24.10345+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:14:48.954976
License: Public Domain

V. J. Brennan, P.J.
(dissenting in part.) I respectfully dissent here.
I concur with the majority on the issue of review of the search and seizure question after a plea of *293nolo contendere, that under the facts here the appeal of that question was not waived. However, I would hold that the evidence seized was admissible.
The one question that the validity of the search rests on is whether there has been a showing in the affidavit of the existence of probable cause.
As does the majority, I, too, would find that sufficient probable cause existed at the time of the issuance.
Because the search warrant was valid, all evidence seized, whether described in the affidavit or in open view, was admissible. The officer’s knowledge of past activities and modus operandi would be permissibly used in the search process. The plain view doctrine, I find, applies to the evidence here seized.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, § 11 of the Michigan Constitution, have generally been held to prohibit searches and seizures conducted without a warrant.
There are exceptions, however, one of which is when the item is in "plain view”. People v Whalen, 390 Mich 672, 677; 213 NW2d 116 (1973); Coolidge v New Hampshire, 403 US 443; 91 S Ct 2022; 29 L Ed 2d 564 (1971). When the police justifiably intrude into an area where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy and observe evidence or contraband, they may seize it without a warrant if the conditions of the plain view doctrine as set forth in Coolidge are present. People v Myshock, 116 Mich App 72, 75; 321 NW2d 849 (1982). The requirements of the plain view doctrine enumerated in Myshock are:
"(1) prior justification for intrusion into the otherwise protected area; (2) the evidence is obviously incriminatory or contraband; and (3) the discovery of the evidence is inadvertent.” Id. pp 75-76. [People v Alfafara, 140 Mich App 551, 556; 364 NW2d 743 (1985).]
*294See also People v Ward, 133 Mich App 344, 353; 351 NW2d 208 (1984), and People v Secrest, 413 Mich 521; 321 NW2d 368 (1982), reh den 414 Mich 1102 (1982).
Police officers need only probable cause to believe that the object within their plain view is evidence or an implement of a crime to satisfy a condition of the plain view doctrine. Officer Dietrich’s knowledge of defendant’s modus operandi at the time of the search was sufficient to establish this probable cause.
I would affirm.