Court Opinion

ID: 9717200
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:59:59.053507+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.965426
License: Public Domain

Dissenting Opinion by Montgomery, J.:
I believe that these defendants were subjected to an unreasonable search when the FBI agent used a ladder to obtain a view into their premises, otherwise not available to the public. I strongly believe that to hold otherwise would be to unreasonably restrict the right of our citizens to feel safe in leaving their windows *183uncurtained to the skies, free from intrusion by all but the occasional passing airplane or helicopter.
I am not dissuadéd from my view by the possible prospective application of the law of Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S. Ct. 507, 19 L. Ed. 2d 576 (1967), which was decided after the incident leading to the arrest of these defendants, since I believe that that ease is inapplicable to the facts of this case. Instead, I find Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505, 81 S. Ct. 679, 5 L. Ed. 2d 734. (1961), analogous. Therein an unauthorized physical penetration (by a “spike mike”) into the premises occupied by the defendants was disallowed. In my opinion, it only logically follows that the unnatural physical penetration into the normal line of sight occupied by a person also should be disallowed. Such a principle is entirely different from that of Katz v. United States, supra, which would, if extended from the auditory into the optical sphere, outlaw hidden movie or television cameras close to the unsuspecting citizen.
Therefore, I respectfully dissent.