Court Opinion

ID: 9546047
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:24:05.735146+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:15:55.639003
License: Public Domain

Foster, J.
(concurring in the result) — While I agree that the judgment should be affirmed, I do so for another reason.
Appellant had no standing to complain of the allegedly illegal search and seizure because he had no interest in either the premises searched or the property seized.
The search occurred in a garage located on premises owned by a Mx. Tomlin. Appellant was discovered and arrested in a nearby house trailer, but he did not claim ownership of, or any proprietary interest in, the garage. Since he claimed no interest in the premises, he had no standing to *373complain of a search thereof. State v. Wooten, 44 Wn. (2d) 177, 266 P. (2d) 342; State v. Funk, 170 Wash. 560, 17 P. (2d) 11; State v. Vennir, 159 Wash. 58, 291 Pac. 1098; State v. Ditmar, 132 Wash. 501, 232 Pac. 321. Had he complained of a search of the trailer which he actually occupied, he would have had standing to be heard. See, Rausch v. State, 75 Okla. Crim. 310, 131 P. (2d) 133.
But although one claims no interest in the premises searched, one is, nevertheless, entitled to the suppression of illegally seized property if he has a proprietary interest in the objects seized. Many cases are reviewed and the law summarized in Jeffers v. United States, 187 F. (2d) 498, affirmed 342 U. S. 48, 96 L. Ed. 59, 72 S. Ct. 93, as follows:
“. . . one who seasonably objects to the use in evidence against him of property he owns which has been seized as the fruit of an unlawful search ... is entitled to its exclusion though the premises searched were not his. . . . To deny him standing to object would be inconsistent with the purpose of the exclusionary rule to make the Amendment effective; for it condemns unreasonable seizures as well as unreasonable searches and applies to ‘effects’ as well as to ‘houses’.”
In the affidavit in support of his motion to suppress, appellant did claim ownership in the objects seized. Under such circumstances, the proper procedure is for the court to take evidence and decide the existence or absence of such interest. If interest is found, the motion should then be decided on its merits.
Here the trial court made no determination respecting appellant’s alleged interest in the seized property prior to ruling on the motion to suppress. The ground upon which the trial court denied the motion is not disclosed, but, whether it was upon the merits or upon lack of standing, the failure to determine the preliminary question was without prejudice because there is independent uncontradicted evidence and appellant’s own confession that he neither owned nor had any proprietary interest in the objects seized.
Weaver, C. J., concurs with Foster, J.