Court Opinion

ID: 9655622
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 19:18:06.48305+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:13:20.760054
License: Public Domain

Bronson, J.
(concurring). I concur in the majority’s decision to reverse this case. I generally agree with the majority’s statement of the facts. However, I believe additional explication is necessary to resolve the constitutional issues raised and will set forth these additional facts with the analysis sections of my opinion. I disagree that the facts of this case support the majority’s conclusion that the search and seizure conducted here was constitutionally permissible.
I
The prosecution does not dispute defendant’s assertion that the search and seizure here came within the purview of both the Fourth Amendment to the federal constitution and Const 1963, art 1, § 11. See United States v Henry, 615 F2d 1223, 1227 (CA 9, 1980). In Henry, since the government conceded the applicability of the Fourth Amendment, the court did not dwell on setting *756forth a rationale for this finding. However, in United States v Davis, 482 F2d 893 (CA 9, 1973), the court discussed at great length the government’s pervasive role in the execution of airport searches designed to minimize hijackings. The court characterized the nationwide anti-hijacking program as having been "conceived, directed, and implemented by federal officials in cooperation with air carriers”. Id., 897. Following a discussion of the history of airplane hijackings in the United States and the various programs implemented by the authorities to combat hijackings, including magnetometer screening of all passengers and searches of carry-on luggage, the court concluded:
"It is entirely clear from the materials summarized above, however, that throughout the period since late 1968 the government’s participation in the development and implementation of the airport search program has been of such significance as to bring any search conducted pursuant to that program within the reach of the Fourth Amendment.
"The government’s role in the airport search program is and has been a dominant one. But even if governmental involvement at some point in the period could be characterized accurately as mere 'encouragement,’ or as 'peripheral, or * * * one of several cooperative forces leading to the [alleged] constitutional violation,’ see United States v Guest, 383 US 745, 755-756; 86 S Ct 1170, 1177; 16 L Ed 2d 239 (1966), that involvement would nevertheless be 'significant’ for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. Constitutional limitations on governmental action would be severely undercut if the government were allowed to actively encourage conduct by 'private’ persons or entities that is prohibited to the government itself.” Id., 904. (Footnote omitted.)
See, also, Note, The Constitutionality of Airport Searches, 72 Mich L Rev 128, 134-137 (1973).1
*757I further note that the majority of courts which have considered the issue of whether magnetometer screening constitutes a search have held in the affirmative. See, e.g., United States v Bell, 464 F2d 667, 672-673 (CA 2, 1972), cert den 409 US 991; 93 S Ct 335; 34 L Ed 2d 258 (1972), United States v Slocum, 464 F2d 1180, 1182 (CA 3, 1972). A magnetometer examination merely detects a concentration of amounts of unspecified metals. The x-ray search under consideraton here, however, actually projected an image of the inside of a closed container. Obviously, then, if magnetometer examination implicates Fourth Amendment protections, the more intrusive x-ray search does. It is an act of futility to attempt to distinguish, for Fourth Amendment purposes, magnetometers and other electronic screening devices such as the x-ray machine. See, Comment, Searching for Hijackers: Constitutionality, Costs, and Alternatives, 40 U Chi L Rev 383, 403 (1973). Pervasive governmental involvement in airport searches mandates a finding of sufficient governmental action to trigger the panoply of constitutional rights prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures.
*758II
The majority has no difficulty in concluding that defendant consented to the search because he made no objection to the airline employee, Robert Tolstyka, taking the briefcase to be x-rayed and because defendant offered to open the briefcase for Linda Duchesne, a security guard.
The prosecution has the burden of proving that, under the totality of the circumstances, consent to search was freely and voluntarily given. Schneckloth v Bustamonte, 412 US 218, 222; 93 S Ct 2041; 36 L Ed 2d 854 (1973), United States v McCaleb, 552 F2d 717, 721 (CA 6, 1977), People v Reed, 393 Mich 342, 362-363; 224 NW2d 867 (1975), cert den 422 US 1044; 95 S Ct 2660; 45 L Ed 2d 696 (1975), People v Whisnant, 103 Mich App 772, 775-777; 303 NW2d 887 (1981), lv den 411 Mich 960 (1981). I do not believe the prosecution met its burden here.
The record in this case shows that defendant was not told that he could avoid the search of his briefcase by declining to fly. He was not told that he could refuse consent. Nor does the record show that warning signs were posted at the ticket counter, where this incident initially arose, advising defendant that checked-in baggage was subject to search or that he had a right to refuse the search. In addition, the record reveals that at the time Tolstyka told defendant that his bag had to be searched, it was then in the exclusive control of airline and/or security personnel.
In my opinion, all the record before us establishes is acquiescence to a claim of lawful author*759ity to search. Such acquiescence is insufficient to show consent. United States v Ruiz-Estrella, 481 F2d 723, 727 (CA 2, 1973), United States v Rothman, 492 F2d 1260, 1265 (CA 9, 1973). The facts of this case are akin to those presented in Ruiz-Estrella, where consent to search was found to be lacking. In Ruiz-Estrella, defendant matched the. hijacking profile.2 He was escorted by an airline gate agent to a uniformed sky marshal. Defendant could not produce satisfactory identification, and the marshal told him he would have to go through a baggage search. Thereupon, defendant handed over the shopping bag he was carrying which contained a sawed-off shotgun. The court found that there had been mere acquiescence to a claim of lawful authority.
Assuming that I am wrong concerning the effectiveness of defendant’s "consent” to the x-ray search, I would still conclude that the firearm had to be suppressed. There were actually two searches here, the x-ray examination which revealed a gun inside the briefcase and the actual opening of the briefcase and the seizure of the gun.
The issue of consent with respect to the x-ray examination presents a close question. However, *760the subsequent opening of the case is not particularly close.
The majority focuses on the fact that defendant offered to open up the case for Duchesne as showing consent. Exclusive reliance on defendant’s willingness to open the case for Duchesne, however, ignores the fact that when Officer Jerry Sumeracki came to the checkpoint, defendant refused to open the briefcase. Sumeracki admitted before the trial court that, at this point, defendant was in custody and not free to leave. Ultimately, the police, without a search warrant, opened the briefcase when defendant continued to refuse to do so. I believe that the physical search of the briefcase was conducted without consent and that the contrary result can only be reached by a strained reading of the record.
I conclude that the physical search was not valid based upon defendant’s "consent”. Moreover, there were no exigent circumstances which justified the search. The police officers had probable cause to believe defendant was guilty of carrying a concealed weapon after the x-ray scan. However, no exigent circumstances justified the subsequent warrantless search. The briefcase was immobile in police custody. See United States v Chadwick, 433 US 1, 13; 97 S Ct 2476; 53 L Ed 2d 538 (1977), Arkansas v Sanders, 442 US 753, 763; 99 S Ct 2586; 61 L Ed 2d 235 (1979), People v Plantefaber, 410 Mich 594, 603-604; 302 NW2d 557 (1981), cert den 454 US 975; 102 S Ct 527; 70 L Ed 2d 396 (1981), People v Miller, 110 Mich App 270; 312 NW2d 225 (1981).
Ill
In light of my conclusion that defendant did not *761consent to the search and seizure here, I must analyze whether, under Rakas v Illinois, 439 US 128; 99 S Ct 421; 58 L Ed 2d 387 (1978), defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the briefcase such that it may be concluded that his Fourth Amendment rights were violated. I conclude that defendant did enjoy a reasonable expectation of privacy in the briefcase. Before setting forth my reasons for this conclusion, however, I desire to go on record as stating that I disagree with the majority that the Rakas "reasonable expectation of privacy in the searched area” analysis is the law in Michigan for determining if an individual’s Fourth Amendment rights have been violated.
In People v Nabers, 103 Mich App 354, 375; 303 NW2d 205 (1981), rev’d in part on other grounds 411 Mich 1046; 309 NW2d 187 (1981), I noted that, as a matter of state constitutional law, the courts of this state have traditionally afforded the citizenry greater protections against unreasonable searches and seizures then have been extended by the United States Supreme Court. Since Nabers, I have had occasion to criticize Rakas in People v Chernowas, 111 Mich App 1; 314 NW2d 505 (1981), and my concurring opinion in People v Wagner, 114 Mich App 541; 320 NW2d 251 (1982). Since then, one panel of this Court has declined to apply Rakas, finding as a matter of state constitutional law that, under article 1, § 11, of the Michigan Constitution of 1963, the rule of automatic standing and the doctrine that anyone legitimately on the premises where the search occurred may challenge its legality from Jones v United States, 362 US 257; 80 S Ct 725; 4 L Ed 2d 697 (1960), continue to apply in Michigan. See People v *762Smith, 118 Mich App 366; — NW2d — (1982). I agree with the rationale of my colleagues in Smith, but make the following additional observations which I believe lends further support for the proposition that the Michigan Constitution should be construed to continue to support "automatic standing”.
The Michigan courts applied the exclusionary rule long before such application was mandated by Mapp v Ohio, 367 US 643; 81 S Ct 1684; 6 L Ed 2d 1081 (1961). See Nabers, supra. An examination of some of these early decisions reveals that defendants who would be found to have no constitutionally protectable Fourth Amendment rights under Rakas were nonetheless not thrown out of the state courts because of a lack of standing. See, e.g., People v Stein, 265 Mich 610; 251 NW 788 (1933) (defendant was one passenger in a taxicab, did not own the cab, and was manifesting his criminal behavior in front of the cabbie and the other passenger),3 People v Orlando, 305 Mich 686; 9 NW2d 893 (1943) (search of car belonging to neither of the codefendants). In light of the fact that pre-Mapp search and seizure law in Michigan did not develop. Rakas-like standing requirements, I see no reason to conclude that they should be developed now.
Despite the foregoing, I would conclude that if the search and seizure here violated the Michigan Constitution, but defendant did not have a "legitimate expectation of privacy” under Rakas, defendant’s conviction could not permissibly be re*763versed. Const 1963, art 1, § 11 contains an anti-exclusionary provision, prohibiting the suppression of, among other things, firearms seized outside the curtilage of any dwelling house. In my opinion, this anti-exclusionary provision must be given effect in any case in which suppression of the evidence would not result under federal constitutional doctrines, but which would result in suppression as a matter of state constitutional law but for the anti-exclusionary provision. This position iq in accordance with the Michigan Supreme Court decision in People v Gonzales, 356 Mich 247; 97 NW2d 16 (1959). There, prior to the United States Supreme Court decision in Mapp, the Michigan Supreme Court held that the anti-exclusionary provisions of Const 1908, art 2, § 10, now embodied in Const 1963, art 1, § 11, were not barred by the federal constitution. Gonzales is again controlling law in Michigan now that the United States Supreme Court has created more exceptions to the requirement of suppression as a remedy for the violation of Fourth Amendment interests, and has disposed of doctrines which made it easier than is true today for defendants to challenge the validity of police searches.
Since the weapon in this case could not be suppressed under the anti-exclusionary provision of the Michigan Constitution, I turn to the question of whether, under Rakas, defendant had a. reasonable expectation of privacy in the briefcase. It is the majority’s position that after defendant denied the briefcase was his, he had abandoned it and any expectation of privacy he might have had in the same. I acknowledge that, at present, the great weight of authority supports the majority. However, in my opinion this authority does not adequately analyze the issue.
*764The United States Supreme Court has not clearly resolved the issue of "abandonment”. However, what applicable Supreme Court authority does exist I believe supports a result contrary to the majority’s position. In Rios v United States, 364 US 253, 262, fn 6; 80 S Ct 1431; 4 L Ed 2d 1688 (1960), the Supreme Court rejected the prosecution’s abandonment theory where the defendant dropped a package containing narcotics to the floor of a taxicab and then attempted to flee. The Court’s decision was apparently premised on the theory that the taxicab constituted a "protected area”. The notion of protected areas was subsequently rejected in Katz v United States, 389 US 347; 88 S Ct 507; 19 L Ed 2d 576 (1967). If the taxicab had not been a "protected area”, the issue of whether abandonment had occurred need not have been reached. All the same, it is unclear from Rios just what the Supreme Court believed the relationship between "protected areas” and abandonment was. Rios is nonetheless interesting in that the Supreme Court clearly rejected the notion of "abandonment”.
Of more interest to me is the Supreme Court’s summary rejection of the prosecution’s abandonment theory in Walter v United States, 447 US 649, 658, fn 11; 100 S Ct 2395; 65 L Ed 2d 4109 (1980), where the Court said:
"Nor can petitioners’ failure to make a more prompt claim to the Government for return of the films be fairly regarded as an abandonment of their interest in preserving the privacy of the shipment. As subsequent events have demonstrated, such a request could reasonably be expected to precipitate criminal proceedings. We cannot equate an unwillingness to invite a criminal prosecution with a voluntary abandonment of any inter*765est in the contents of the cartons. In any event, the record in this case does indicate that the defendants made a number of attempts to locate the films before they were examined by the FBI agents.”
In my opinion, this excerpt from Walter is applicable to this case. Defendant’s statement that he did not own the briefcase was obviously made to avoid criminal proceedings against him. It is clear that defendant did not intend to relinquish or abandon the briefcase. The statement was made under the coercion of police custody. Even as the statement was made, defendant did not voluntarily give up the case; rather, he offered his lack of ownership as a reason for keeping the briefcase, with its incriminating evidence, closed. Defendant’s act of prevarication was an attempt to preserve his privacy in the contents of his briefcase and to vindicate his expectation of privacy in the same.
In United States v Tolbert, 517 F Supp 1081, 1086-1094 (ED Mich, 1981), Chief Judge Feikens’ opinion constitutes what I consider to be the definitive analysis of what actions precipitated by police confrontation should be construed as an "abandonment” of Fourth Amendment rights in the searched item. Applying Justice Harlan’s test for determining whether a reasonable expectation of privacy exists in a searched area from Katz, supra, and later accepted by a majority of the Supreme Court in Smith v Maryland, 442 US 735; 99 S Ct 2577; 61 L Ed 2d 220 (1979), Judge Feikens found that the defendant in Tolbert had not abandoned her property. Justice Harlan’s concurrence in Katz imposes a twofold requirement for determining if a reasonable expectation of privacy exists: (1) that the person whose property has been searched exhibits a subjective expectation of privacy, and (2) *766that this expectation is one society is prepared to deem as reasonable.
Here, defendant exhibited a subjective expectation of privacy in the briefcase up until the time it became clear that Officer Sumeracki intended to examine its interior. I agree with Judge Feikens’ Tolbert decision that the abandonment of this subjective expectation at the time of the police confrontation does not negate defendant’s Fourth Amendment interests in the property. As Judge Feikens indicates:
"If 'reasonable expectations of privacy’ define the range of protected Fourth Amendment interests, there is no reason to exclude her interest from the protection of the Amendment because she lost her actual expectation of privacy when the police approached. The coverage of the Fourth Amendment does not expand or contract to match a person’s expectations about police behavior. Certainly, no one would contend that police may conduct a night-time raid without probable cause if the frightened homeowner has anticipated that it will Occur.
"In an 'abandonment’ case, the defendant takes 'normal precautions to maintain his privacy’, demonstrates a subjective expectation of privacy until the police arrive. After police confront him, his actual expectation of privacy is influenced heavily by his personal reaction to their presence. He may or may not expect his privacy to be jeopardized, depending upon his attitudes about police and his knowledge of Fourth Amendment law. Society’s interest in the admission of incriminating evidence is no greater when the defendant’s personal reaction to police includes loss of his expectation of privacy than it is in other cases. In fact, the need for deterrence may even be greater if the defendant has openly revealed his cynical expectations about police behavior.” Id., 1091-1092. (Footnotes and citations omitted.)
*767As to the second prong of Justice Harlan’s test, I think no doubt exists but that a person in possession of a locked briefcase has a reasonable expectation in the briefcase’s contents which is recognized as legitimate by society. I further agree with the following excerpt from Tolbert:
"Of course, the usual explanation of ’abandonment’ is that the defendant’s disclaimer destroys the legitimacy of his privacy interest. * * *
"First, if the 'reasonable expectation of privacy’ standard is a limit of the substantive scope of the Fourth Amendment, the disclaimer does not remove defendant’s privacy interest from the group of 'legitimate’ or 'reasonable’ privacy interests protected by the Amendment. She still owns the luggage, and still has an interest in the privacy of her 'papers, and effects.’ US Const, Am IV. Society’s interest in the protection of her personal privacy remains as strong after the disclaimer as before it.
"At least in police confrontations, 'abandonment’ is really a doctrine of forfeiture or estoppel. A person realizes that his property is about to be searched, panics, and desperately tries to disown it. By the disclaimer, he is hopelessly trying to preserve his privacy. Of course, the lie is ignored, and the search proceeds. Yet, because of an absurd, pathetic statement which no one believes, he forfeits constitutional protection of his privacy. I find no precedent for attaching such a penalty to lying to the police.
"Second, if the standard is really a limitation of the exclusionary rule, defendant’s 'abandonment’ has not created the need for an exception to the rule. In Schneckloth v Bustamonte, supra, the Supreme Court recognized that deterrence of police misconduct plays no role in situations in which the police have relied in good faith upon a consent which appeared to be knowing and voluntary. Therefore, they refused to apply the exclusionary rule in 'voluntary consent’ cases.
"No good faith reliance is present in- a case of so-called 'voluntary abandonment’. The police do not rely *768on the disclaimer. On the contrary, the search proceeds upon the assumption that the defendant is lying. The dynamics of the situation do not change. Whether or not the exclusionary rule actually serves its purpose, the need for deterrence of police misconduct remains.
"In fact, 'abandonment’ actually presents a relatively appealing case for application of the rule. It is not a situation in which 'the criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered.’ The 'abandonment’ theory enables police intentionally to circumvent the privacy protections of the Fourth Amendment. They may approach a 'suspicious’ person and try to pressure him into 'abandoning’ his property. If they fail to coerce 'abandonment’, their actions are never scrutinized by a magistrate. If they succeed, they are free to search the 'abandoned’ property, and seize whatever they find. They have no warrant. They have no probable cause to believe that they will discover evidence of a particular crime. They simply go fishing. Their conduct is reviewed only when they catch something. The exclusionary rule was created specifically to deter this kind of systematic violation.” Id., 1093-1094. (Footnotes and citations omitted.)
My belief that defendant did not abandon his case is also reinforced by my opinion that prior to the time that defendant disclaimed ownership of the case, he should have been advised of his Miranda4 rights. We need not merely assume, as the majority has, that defendant was in custody. Officer Sumeracki admitted that he would not have let defendant leave had the latter tried to go.5 The question of interrogation is only a little closer. I first note that on cross-examination, Officer Sumer*769acki admitted asking defendant who owned the case. However, whether this occurred prior to or after defendant said that his friend owned the briefcase is not clear on the record. Nonetheless, under either version of the events in issue, I believe that pursuant to Rhode Island v Innis, 446 US 291; 100 S Ct 1682; 64 L Ed 2d 297 (1980), interrogation did occur here.
Defendant was asked to open his case. By Officer Sumeracki’s admission, defendant responded, "why?” Sumeracki answered, "because the outline of a gun was seen in the bag. We have to have it opened.” Defendant then said the case belonged to a friend. As Tolbert, supra, makes abundantly clear, this is the typical scenario leading to a prosecutorial claim of abandonment. Far from defendant’s response appearing "to be a voluntary, unsolicited statement”, it seems to me that this is precisely the kind of response Officer Sumeracki’s conversation with defendant would be expected to elicit. I conclude that defendant’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights were violated well before the police opened the briefcase without consent.

 The specific method used to conduct the initial screening here was *757discussed in Andrews, Screening Travelers at the Airport to Prevent Hijacking: A New Challenge for the Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine, 16 Ariz L Rev 658, 703-704 (1974), as follows:
"(2) Low-level x-ray weapon detector check. Under this procedure, the carry-on baggage remains shut and is passed on a conveyor belt through the detector. Some of these devices project onto a television-type screen an image of the objects inside each piece of baggage, while others appear to project only a complex of lines which enable a trained monitor to deduce the size and nature of each such object. This procedure also invades privacy, although to a lesser degree than the manual inspection since the bag remains closed and there is no indiscriminate viewing of its contents or disruption of their order. However, the very process of projecting even an imprecise image of the shape and relative location of all items in any deliberately closed container is so similar to actually looking into the container as to partake of the essence of a search. The x-ray weapons detector does amount, then, to a search within the fourth amendment.” (Footnote omitted.)

 All the airline officials who testified here refused to divulge what the "hijacking profile” consists of. Rather, they stated that the profile information is secret, not written down, and is changed from time to time. As such, it is impossible for us to ascertain if the profile actually justified an investigatory stop based on reasonable suspicion that criminal activity might be afoot. In some cases the presence or absence of such a reasonable suspicion might be dispositive of the search and seizure issue. I, for one, have no intention of abdicating my judicial responsibility to make a determination of whether an investigatory stop is supported by reasonable suspicion. If the airline security officials are unwilling to divulge just why a defendant was deemed to fit the hijacking profile, I will be left with no alternative but to conclude that the prosecution did not meet its burden of establishing the propriety of the initial stop.

 In People v Bissonette, 327 Mich 349, 352-353; 42 NW2d 113 (1950), the Court noted that the anti-exclusionary provision now appearing in Const 1963, art 1, § 11, was a result of the Stein decision.

 Miranda v Arizona, 384 US 436; 86 S Ct 1602; 16 L Ed 2d 694 (1966).

 I still adhere to the position that focus, rather than custody, is the correct test to apply in Michigan for determining if Miranda warnings must be given. See People v Wallach, 110 Mich App 37, 47-50; 312 NW2d 387 (1981). In this case, however, both the focus and custody tests compel the same result, viz: that Miranda warnings should have been given.