Court Opinion

ID: 9720439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:30:53.970074+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:18.255838
License: Public Domain

BAKER, Judge,
dissenting
I respectfully dissent. While I agree with the majority’s premise that the subjective component of the Katz test is fact sensitive, I fail to see how this creates an insurmountable obstacle for our review of the reserved question of law. In my view, the question can be resolved without ever reaching the factual issue of whether Overmyer exhibited an actual, subjective expectation of privacy.
As the majority notes, the Katz test, which is used to determine when someone has a reasonable expectation of privacy, has a twofold requirement: (1) the defendant must have had an actual, subjective expectation of privacy and (2) society would recognize such an expectation as reasonable. Katz v. U.S., 389 U.S. 347, 361, 88 S.Ct. 507, 516, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). Whether an actual, subjective expectation of privacy is one that society would recognize as objectively reasonable is a question of law. State v. Thomas, 642 N.E.2d 240, 244 (Ind.Ct.App.1994), trans. denied.
In the instant case, I would begin the analysis by presuming that Overmyer had a subjective expectation of privacy in order to reach the dispositive issue of whether society would deem such expectation as reasonable. With regard to the objective component of the test, it is apparent to me that society would not recognize a reasonable expectation of privacy in a jail visitation area. This court has previously held that jail inmates do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cells because the right to privacy is incompatible with the need to maintain security within the jail. Cleary v. State, 663 N.E.2d 779, 783 (Ind.Ct.App.1996); see also Perkins v. State, 483 N.E.2d 1379, 1384 (Ind. 1985) (holding that prison inmates do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their cells because privacy is incompatible with the need to maintain security by close surveillance of inmates). In my view, the same security concerns are present in jail visitation areas and, therefore, close surveillance is not only objectively reasonable, but should be expected.
Thus, I would address the reserved question of law and hold as a matter of law that a jail visitor does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a jail visitation area.