Court Opinion

ID: 9624959
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:23:07.507427+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:57.672071
License: Public Domain

SCHROEDER, Judge,
concurring in part and dissenting in part:
I agree with the majority’s resolution of the speedy trial issue, I agree that the brick of marijuana taken from the plane by a civilian should not have been suppressed, and that the appellant has standing to challenge the police search.
I cannot agree, however, with the majority’s resolution of the remaining search questions, which, as presented by the State, concern whether the circumstances justified two warrantless searches of a plane, resulting in the unloading of its cargo and the securing of identification materials from inside a zippered flight bag.
The searches are upheld by the majority on two basic grounds. The first is that there were exigent circumstances justifying the warrantless searches of the plane. However, I find it difficult to perceive exigencies compelling immediate search of a plane parked on a remote airstrip, with a tire shot out, and under surveillance by the police. Even if the question of exigent circumstances could be regarded as a close factual question, it has been resolved in favor of the lack of exigent circumstances by the trial court’s suppression order.
To the extent that the majority opinion suggests there are always exigent circumstances in connection with searches of the airplane, simply because it is a vehicle, the opinion is directly contrary to the law in this state. See e. g., State v. Sauve, 112 Ariz. 576, 544 P.2d 1091 (1976); State v. Sardo, 112 Ariz. 509, 543 P.2d 1138 (1975); State v. Bertram, 18 Ariz.App. 579, 504 P.2d 520 (1972). The United States Supreme *57Court has recently reiterated the requirement of particular exigent circumstances in connection with warrantless vehicle searches. United States v. Chadwick, 433 U.S. 1, 97 S.Ct. 2476, 53 L.Ed.2d 538 (1977).
The other leg upon which the majority stands is the “open field doctrine”. However, as the opinion in United States v. Freie, 545 F.2d 1217, 1223 (9th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 430 U.S. 966, 97 S.Ct. 1645, 52 L.Ed.2d 356 (1977), in the portion quoted by the majority points out, the open field doctrine as enunciated originally in Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57, 44 S.Ct. 445, 68 L.Ed. 898 (1924), “no longer has any independent meaning . . . ” Accord, State v. Caldwell, 20 Ariz.App. 331, 335, 512 P.2d 863, 867 (1973). After the United States’ Supreme Court’s opinion in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967), the appropriate question has come to be whether those subjected to the search had a reasonable expectation of privacy. State v. Caldwell, supra; Cf. State v. Dugan, 113 Ariz. 354, 356 n. 1, 555 P.2d 108, 110 n. 1 (1976). In my view, there was such a reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to the contents of a closed airplane parked on a remote, isolated airstrip in northern Arizona. Again, if there were any doubt, it should be resolved in favor of the trial court’s ruling.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the portion of the court’s opinion which upholds the removal by police of the contents of the plane without a warrant.