Bohanan v. State

992 P.2d 596, 1999 Alas. App. LEXIS 142, 1999 WL 1067497
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedNovember 26, 1999
DocketA-6907
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 992 P.2d 596 (Bohanan v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Alaska primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bohanan v. State, 992 P.2d 596, 1999 Alas. App. LEXIS 142, 1999 WL 1067497 (Ala. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

MANNHEIMER, Judge.

Glen A. Bohanan was convicted of second-degree sexual assault 1 and attempted first-degree sexual assault 2 for trying to rape D.B., one of his wife’s friends. He now appeals these convictions, asserting a variety of errors. For the reasons explained here, we affirm Bohanan’s convictions.

Facts pertaining to Bohanan’s claim that some of the State’s evidence was gathered illegally

Bohanan and his family lived in Fairbanks. D.B., a close friend of Bohanan’s wife, was visiting from Lake Minchumina. On May 9, 1997, Bohanan invited D.B. to his house while his wife and children were not home. Bo-hanan kissed D.B. several times on the mouth, groped her breasts and buttocks, *598 pushed his groin against her in a simulation of sexual intercourse, and held her tightly as he tried to lead her into a bedroom. D.B. eventually broke away from Bohanan and fled the house.

After D.B. reported Bohanan’s conduct to the state troopers, the troopers decided to have D.B. telephone Bohanan in an attempt to obtain incriminating statements from Bo-hanan. The troopers obtained a Glass warrant 3 to monitor these anticipated conversations.

The troopers planned for D.B. to call Bo-hanan from the trooper station, where recording equipment was installed, but the plan was made difficult by the fact that D.B. lived in Lake Minchumina. The initial Glass warrant was not executed because D.B. could not make it into Fairbanks from Lake Min-chumina. The warrant was extended, but again D.B. had difficulty coming to Fairbanks, and when she was available, the officer in charge of the investigation was out of town. Finally, everything was ready and D.B. called the Bohanan residence, but Bo-hanan’s wife answered the phone. D.B. did not try to engage Bohanan in conversation about the sexual assault because she believed that Bohanan would not speak freely in the presence of his wife.

After these attempts, the troopers changed their tactics. There were no officers in Lake Minchumina, and D.B. could not stay in Fairbanks any longer, so the troopers gave D.B. one of their telephones and a tape recorder. They told D.B. to take this equipment home and to try to call Bohanan from Lake Min-chumina. The troopers also instructed D.B. on how to elicit the kinds of statements that would be helpful to the case.

Later, D.B. contacted the troopers and informed them that she had been successful in talking to Bohanan about the sexual assault. But when D.B. described the conversations with Bohanan, the troopers learned that D.B.’s husband had also talked to Bo-hanan during one of the conversations. This had not been part of the troopers’ plan, and they had not asked D.B.’s husband to participate in the electronic monitoring. Based on this new information, the troopers applied for another Glass warrant that authorized both D.B. and her husband to engage in taped conversations with Bohanan.

After Bohanan was indicted, he asked the superior court to suppress all of the Glass warrant tapes because the taping had been done by civilians rather than by the troopers themselves. Bohanan also asked the court to suppress the conversation in which D.B.’s husband participated before his name was added to the Glass warrant. Superior Court Judge pro tempore Jane F. Kauvar denied these motions, and Bohanan renews his arguments on appeal.

Civilian participation in the execution of a Glass warrant

Bohanan argues that only police officers can execute Glass warrants. He relies on AS 12.35.120, which defines “search warrant” as a written order, signed by or at the direction of a judicial officer, “directed to a peace officer, commanding the peace officer to search for personal property and bring it before the judge”. (Alaska Criminal Rule 37(a)(3) also specifies that a search warrant “shall be directed to a peace officer [and] shall command the officer to search the person or place named for the property specified [in the warrant]”.) Bohanan contends that the procedure used in his case — having D.B. operate the recording equipment by herself — must be illegal because search warrants are directed to police officers.

Bohanan’s argument ignores the Alaska statutes that authorize police officers to enlist the aid of civilians. AS 12.25.090 states that “[a] peace officer making an arrest may orally summon as many persons as the officer considers necessary to aid in making the arrest.” And AS 12.35.040 declares that an officer “has the same power and authority ... to call any other person to the officer’s aid” when the officer is executing or serving *599 a search warrant. 4 Indeed, AS 18.65.100 grants even broader powers to members of the Alaska State Troopers:

Power to command assistance from others.
The Department of Public Safety and members of the state troopers may command the assistance of any able-bodied person to aid in accomplishing the purposes of AS 18.65.020-18.65.110, and when called, the person, during the time assistance is required, is considered a member of the state troopers and subject to AS 18.65.020-18.65.110.

The purposes of 18.65.020 — 110 include “the enforcement of all criminal laws of the state, [including] obtain[ing] legal evidence”. 5 Thus, both AS 18.65.100 and AS 12.35.040 authorized the state troopers to enlist civilian aid in executing the Glass warrant in Bohan-an’s case.

No prior Alaska appellate case has discussed how broad this statutory authorization might be, but cases from other states illustrate many recurring situations where civilians do the primary work in the execution of search warrants. Medical personnel actually perform the seizure when a search warrant calls for the drawing of blood or the examination or sampling of body tissues. 6 Bank officials and computer operators actually perform the retrieval and copying when a search warrant calls for production of financial records. 7 Police often recruit large numbers of civilians (whether formally deputized or not) to aid in investigations that require the search of a large area of land or water. 8 And undercover agents often carry the recorder or monitoring device and control its operation during the execution of an electronic monitoring warrant. 9

See, generally, Civilian Participation in [the] Execution of [a] Search Warrant as Affecting [the] Legality of [the] Search, 68 A.L.R.5th 549 (1999); Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment (3rd ed.1996), § 4.10(d), Vol. 2, pp. 676-77.

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Related

Miller v. State
318 P.3d 155 (Supreme Court of Kansas, 2014)
Thompson v. State
210 P.3d 1233 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2009)
Carpentino v. State
38 P.3d 547 (Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2002)

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Bluebook (online)
992 P.2d 596, 1999 Alas. App. LEXIS 142, 1999 WL 1067497, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bohanan-v-state-alaskactapp-1999.