Court Opinion

ID: 9779462
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:51:24.456469+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:26.506781
License: Public Domain

STUMBO, Justice,
dissenting.
Respectfully, I must dissent. I would hold that the use of the FLIR unit infringed upon LaFollette’s legitimate expectation of privacy just as surely as the device attached to the outside of the telephone booth in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). The fact that the FLIR does not penetrate the walls of the home is irrelevant and ignores the purpose of the use of the FLIR; to wit: to determine what activities are taking place inside a private residence.
The majority take comfort in the statement that the condition of Appellant’s home offered no expectation of privacy as to heat emission, apparently referring to the lack of exhaust fans to dissipate heat. I would look to Appellant’s use of fencing, shrubbery, and window coverings as evidence that Appellant sought to keep the activities of his home private. As the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals noted in United States v. Ishmael, 48 F.3d 850 (1995), one need not anticipate and guard against every investigative tool or sophisticated surveillance technique to exhibit an expectation of privacy.
To hold otherwise leaves the privacy of the home at the mercy of the government’s ability to exploit technological advances.
Because I would find the FLIR overflight constituted a warrantless search, and, believ-*751mg that there was insufficient basis for a finding of probable cause for issuance of a search warrant without the information the overflight provided, I would hold that the fruits of the search warrant should have been suppressed. I would reverse and remand for a new trial.