Court Opinion

ID: 9547628
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:49:52.674387+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:54.526178
License: Public Domain

ERICKSON, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent.
The contraband in this case was originally discovered by Selia Stieha, a private citizen. Stieha, as a landlord, entered premises which she had leased to Rodney and Debbie Brewer to make an inspection. She had not been paid rent for the month of November and had been told that the Brewers were moving and were living in another house. The phone to the leased premises had been disconnected and antifreeze had been put in the plumbing. Upon entering the premises Stieha discov*865ered that the heat had been turned off and found the premises to be in a state of total disarray. Debbie Brewer later confirmed that she and her husband had no intention of renewing the lease for another month or to re-occupy the premises. Although Brewer informed Stieha that she would remove the remaining furniture and articles of clothing from the house over the weekend, she failed to meet Stieha the following morning at an appointed time, so Stieha again entered the premises and inadvertently discovered marijuana. Stieha later called the police and directed them to the marijuana that she had discovered.
The majority acknowledges that the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures applies only to governmental action and not to independent searches by private citizens. United States v. Jacobsen, — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984); Walter v. United States, 447 U.S. 649, 100 S.Ct. 2395, 65 L.Ed.2d 410 (1980); People v. Benson, 176 Colo. 421, 490 P.2d 1287 (1971). In Jacobsen, the United States Supreme Court stated that, in reviewing the discovery of contraband by private citizens, any additional invasion of a defendant’s privacy by the police must be tested by the degree to which the police went beyond the scope of the private search. 104 S.Ct. at 1657, 80 L.Ed.2d at 95. The federal proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures is implicated only if the police obtain evidence or information with respect to which the expectation of privacy has not already been frustrated. Id., 104 S.Ct. at 1658, 80 L.Ed.2d at 97.
In my view, the recovery by the police of the marijuana originally discovered by Sti-eha was not an expansion of her private “search,” nor was it an additional searfch subject to the warrant requirement. The majority concedes that Stieha’s activities were solely in pursuit of her private interests as owner and landlord of the leased premises, and were by no means conducted on behalf of, or in furtherance of, a police investigation. Maj. op. at 862. Whether or not her presence on the premises was reasonable, the defendants’ original expectation of privacy with respect to the marijuana was frustrated by Stieha’s private discovery. I do not perceive how the recovery of the contraband by the police after it was discovered by Stieha, a private citizen, constituted a further violation of the defendants’ legitimate expectations of privacy.
At best, the defendants in this case had only a diminished expectation of privacy with respect to the leased premises. By their affirmative actions, the defendants had rendered the premises virtually uninhabitable and were in fact residing at another location. The term of the leasehold had expired and the defendants unequivocally manifested their intent not to renew the month-to-month tenancy. Cf. State v. Taggart, 7 Or.App. 479, 491 P.2d 1187 (1971) (tenant whose landlord has acquiesced in late payment of rent and does not know or have reason to know that landlord has decided to terminate the tenancy continues to have reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the leased premises).
Although the Brewers may not have abandoned the premises, in my view, the fact that Stieha permitted them to keep some remaining possessions on the property until the coming weekend, after the lease had expired and with no expectation of receiving further rent, did not confer upon the Brewers a continuing possessory right in the premises or preclude Stieha from furthering her interests, as owner and landlord, in safeguarding the condition of her property. Although the police were aware that the Brewers had been renting the premises from Stieha, judging from the condition of the premises and Stieha’s apparent present control, the officers could reasonably infer that she had authority to consent to a search. The defendants were also aware of a prior entry into the premises by Stieha and knew of, and acquiesced in, her intent to re-enter the premises.
I would conclude that section 16-3-308, 8 C.R.S. (1984 Supp.), is applicable. This is not a Quintero case where the police lacked probable cause to arrest until five hours after an arrest was made. People v. *866Quintero, 657 P.2d 948 (Colo.1983), cert. granted, — U.S.-, 103 S.Ct. 3535, 77 L.Ed.2d 1386, cert. dismissed, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 543, 78 L.Ed.2d 719 (1983). In this case, probable cause existed prior to the arrest of the defendants inasmuch as the arrests occurred after the police had recovered illegal drugs discovered by Sti-eha, acting as a private citizen. See Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). In dealing with Stieha, there is nothing in the record to indicate that the police knew of a continuing tenancy between Stieha and the Brewers or knew that Stieha had given the Brewers the weekend to remove their remaining possessions. Any error by the police regarding the existence of a tenancy was, in my view, a mistake of fact and not of law. United States v. Leon, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984); Massachusetts v. Sheppard, — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 3424, 82 L.Ed.2d 737 (1984).
In my view, the recovery of the marijuana by the police and the subsequent search, under the facts in this case, infringed no legitimate expectations of privacy, and the order of suppression should therefore be reversed.