Court Opinion

ID: 9574079
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:09.531432+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:04.675811
License: Public Domain

Guy, J.
(dissenting) — While I concur with the majority that all evidence obtained in violation of RCW 9.73.050 must be excluded, I disagree that all evidence obtained once the unauthorized body wire was in use was inadmissible.
Under general principles of statutory construction, when construing a statute the court's purpose is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the Legislature. Addleman v. Board of Prison Terms & Paroles, 107 Wn.2d 503, 509, 730 P.2d 1327 (1986). In effecting legislative intent, this court has held that in the absence of an indication from the Legislature that it intended to overrule the common law, new legislation will be presumed to be in line with prior judicial decisions in a given field of law. State v. McCullum, 98 Wn.2d 484, 493, 656 P.2d 1064 (1983). It would therefore be reasonable to assume that absent some legislative intent to the contrary, the privacy act was not intended to abrogate judicial precedent involving common law principles of search and seizure but rather that statute exist harmoniously with that precedent wherever possible.
Exclusion of evidence obtained by reason of the use of an unauthorized body wire extends not only to the contents of *838the transmission but to all evidence that may be causally connected to the contents of the transmission. This latter exclusion is contained in the common law body of law on search and seizure, and is known as the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine. Under the majority, any evidence obtained during the use of an unauthorized body wire would be excluded. In taking this position, the majority fails to utilize the common law "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine to determine whether all the evidence excluded was causally linked to the use of the unauthorized body wire. Under the majority's position, even sensory observations of police officers or of third parties, having no causal connection to the body wire transmissions, would be inadmissible. Thus, the majority excludes all evidence obtained during the use of the unauthorized body wire without analysis to determine if there is a nexus between the evidence obtained and the use of the body wire. By failing to make such analysis, the majority eliminates the need for the "fruit of the poisonous tree" doctrine. There is no showing of the Legislature's intent to require such a strict application of the exclusionary rule so as to eliminate common law analysis of this doctrine. This court has relied upon the "fruit" doctrine in a variety of cases involving illegal searches and seizures to determine the admissibility of evidence. See State v. Wethered, 110 Wn.2d 466, 755 P.2d 797 (1988); State v. Larson, 93 Wn.2d 638, 611 P.2d 771 (1980); State v. McFarland, 84 Wn.2d 391, 526 P.2d 361 (1974), cert. denied, 420 U.S. 1005 (1975); State v. Rothenberger, 73 Wn.2d 596, 440 P.2d 184 (1968). Although none of these cases involved the privacy act, they signify this court's recognition that the exclusionary rule is not all encompassing and that the "fruit" doctrine has application.
Nothing in the privacy act purports to prohibit the use of the "fruit" doctrine in cases involving the act. See RCW 9.73.050. To the contrary, the language of RCW 9.73.050 suggests that the Legislature intended there be a causal nexus between the original illegality and the excluded evidence. RCW 9.73.050 provides in pertinent part:
*839Any information obtained in violation of RCW 9.73.030 . . . shall be inadmissible in any civil or criminal case . . ..
(Italics mine.)
The obvious antithesis of this language is that any information not obtained in violation of the statute would be admissible.
RCW 9.73.030(l)(b) provides in pertinent part:
(1) . . . it shall be unlawful for . . . the state of Washington, its agencies, and political subdivisions to intercept, or record any:
(b) Private conversation, by any device electronic or otherwise designed to record or transmit such conversation . . . without first obtaining the consent of all the persons engaged in the conversation.
(Italics mine.)
The majority fails to examine the above statutes as a whole and instead focuses solely upon the words "any information" as contained in RCW 9.73.050. This court has held that a statute is construed as a whole, with all its parts being harmonized to give effect to the intent of the Legislature and to avoid inconsistent and absurd results. Nis-qually Delta Ass'n v. DuPont, 103 Wn.2d 720, 730, 696 P.2d 1222 (1985).
Read together, these statutes exclude from admissibility information obtained in violation of RCW 9.73.030. The statutes do not, however, purport to exclude from tried all information obtained merely because an unauthorized wire was in use at the time. The statutes do not require strict exclusion, rather, exclusion only as to that information obtained in violation of RCW 9.73.030. To determine if information was obtained in violation of the statute, inquiry as to the connection between the use of a wire and the obtaining of the information must be made. The contents of the wire transmission is obviously covered as would be all other "fruit" of the communication. The inquiry in this case, then, is whether information obtained by the police was properly excluded as the "fruit" of the illegal body wire.
*840The United States Supreme Court has held that the primary question in determining what would be considered "fruit of the poisonous tree" is '"whether . . . the evidence . . . has been come at by exploitation of that illegality or ... by means sufficiently distinguishable to be purged of the primary taint.'" Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 488, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441, 83 S. Ct. 407 (1963) (quoting Maguire, Evidence of Guilt 221 (1959)). In that regard, our Court of Appeals has employed a causal nexus analysis holding:
"[E]vidence will not be excluded as 'fruit' unless the illegality is at least the 'but for' cause of the discovery of the evidence. Suppression is not justified unless 'the challenged evidence is in some sense the product of illegal governmental activity."'
(Italics mine.) State v. Aranguren, 42 Wn. App. 452, 457, 711 P.2d 1096 (1985) (quoting Segura v. United States, 468 U.S. 796, 815, 82 L. Ed. 2d 599, 104 S. Ct. 3380 (1984)). In determining whether there is a nexus between the evidence in question and the police conduct, the court essentially makes a commonsense evaluation of the facts and circumstances of the particular case. Aranguren, at 457 (citing United States v. Kapperman, 764 F.2d 786 (11th Cir. 1985)).
At trial, two sources of evidence were available. One source was Detective Manchester who personally participated in the drug purchase. The other source was the two attending officers who listened to transmissions from the body wire and made personal observations involving the physical conduct of Detective Manchester and the defendant. In analyzing the admissibility of these two sources, it is necessary to determine what evidence was derived through the use of the body wire and what evidence had no causal connection to the use of the wire.
As to the evidence Detective Manchester obtained through conversations with and personal observations of the defendant, there is no causal nexus between that evidence and the use of the body wire, as the detective would have heard the statements and made the observations *841regardless of the wire. Similarly, observations of the two attending officers as to the movement of the parties were independent of the body wire and thus not tainted by the unauthorized use of the body wire.
Even though all evidence was derived while Detective Manchester was wearing the wire, thereby establishing a link between the use of the wire and the evidence, this court in State v. Rothenberger, 73 Wn.2d 596, 440 P.2d 184 (1968) declared: "Sophisticated argument may prove a causal connection between information obtained through illicit wire-tapping and the Government's proof. As a matter of good sense, however, such connection may have become so attenuated as to dissipate the taint." Rothen-berger, at 600-01 (quoting Nardone v. United States, 308 U.S. 338, 341, 84 L. Ed. 307, 60 S. Ct. 266 (1939)). Such is the case in this instance.
Although enacted after the defendant was charged and therefore not applicable to her case, 1989 additions to RCW 9.73 support the conclusion that the Legislature did not intend that the exclusionary provision of RCW 9.73.050 be all encompassing. RCW 9.73.200 et seq. provide for nonjudicial authorization of 1-party-consent wire interception, transmission or recording for the protection of police officers, although not permitting use of the evidence so obtained in trial except with limited exceptions (RCW 9.73.230(8)(a)-(d)).
RCW 9.73.230(8)(d) specifically provides that the subsection is not a bar to the admissibility of testimony of a party or eyewitness to the intercepted, transmitted, or recorded conversation or communication when that testimony is unaided by information obtained solely in violation of RCW 9.73.030. In sum, so long as the police follow RCW 9.73.230 in using a wire tap or body wire for protection of the officer, testimony obtained through the senses of parties or eyewitnesses, unaided by information communicated by use of the nonjudicially approved wire, is admissible.
Deterrence of illegal and improper police conduct should be of paramount concern to this court in protecting and *842preserving the rights of individuals. Whenever such unlawful behavior occurs, the evidence derived from such conduct is inadmissible. However, the effect of doing so should not be so all encompassing that the police cannot perform their function in protecting the public. Exclusion of evidence not tainted by the illegality would have no more added deterrent effect to improper police conduct than would disallowing only that evidence which was the "fruit" of the original illegality, as here suggested.
In conclusion, I would affirm the trial court in holding admissible that evidence Detective Manchester derived through conversation with and personal observation of the defendant, as well as all assertive gestures observed or witnessed by the attending officers. To the extent that this dissent conflicts with State v. Williams, 94 Wn.2d 531, 617 P.2d 1012, 24 A.L.R.4th 1191 (1980), I would overrule that case.
Dore and Durham, JJ., concur with Guy, J.