Court Opinion

ID: 9547533
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 17:48:33.677798+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:17:50.148727
License: Public Domain

HUNTLEY, Justice,
specially concurring.
The majority initially upholds the trial court’s denial of Gawron’s suppression motion, “because Gawron failed to show that the evidence seized was in any way tainted by the officers’ unlawful acts.” I concur with this part of the analysis and believe that the analysis need go no further. However, the majority proceeds to cite Segura v. United States, — U.S.-, 104 S.Ct. 3380, 82 L.Ed.2d 599 (1984) for the proposition that evidence seized subsequent to an unlawful entry need not be suppressed when, despite the illegality, a lawful independent source would have allowed for its discovery and seizure. The majority then asserts, “we hold ... the evidence seized admissible under the ‘independent source’ doctrine.”
The independent source- rule does not come into consideration until the defendant has made a prima facie showing that a causal connection exists between the alleged fruit and the police misconduct. In Wong Sun v. U.S., 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963), the United States Supreme Court stated that the question is “whether, granting establishment of the primary illegality, the evidence to which instant objection is made has been come at by exploitation of that illegality or instead by means sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint.” (emphasis added) In the instant case, it is clear that the evidence had not been come at by exploitation of the unlawful entry, hence we need not inquire whether some other doctrine (i.e., independent source, inevitable discovery) need apply. In the instant case, the independent source doctrine would operate only if the officers had actually discovered or seized evidence connecting defendant with the stolen property before the warrant issued. Had they done so, the defendant could have demonstrated that the evidence was tainted. At that point, the prosecution would have been compelled to demonstrate that the information leading to the issuance of the warrant and the ultimate seizure of the evidence was obtained from an independent source. However, the officers did not discover or seize any of the challenged evidence until after the warrant issued and was served. Since there was no taint, it is unnecessary to consider whether there was an independent source. The majority’s quote from Segura, supra, is therefore surplusage.
I agree, however, with the view expressed in footnote 3 wherein the majority observes that we need not decide whether the Idaho Constitution should be interpreted in precisely the same fashion as the United States Supreme Court interpreted the federal constitution in Segura, supra.