Burrece v. State

976 P.2d 241, 1999 WL 58572
CourtCourt of Appeals of Alaska
DecidedFebruary 5, 1999
DocketA-6688
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 976 P.2d 241 (Burrece 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
Burrece v. State, 976 P.2d 241, 1999 WL 58572 (Ala. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

976 P.2d 241 (1999)

Lareene BURRECE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Alaska, Appellee.

No. A-6688.

Court of Appeals of Alaska.

February 5, 1999.

Eugene B. Cyrus, Eagle River, for Appellant.

Kenneth M. Rosenstein, Assistant Attorney General, Anchorage, and Bruce M. Botelho, Attorney General, Juneau, for Appellee.

Before COATS, Chief Judge, and MANNHEIMER and STEWART, Judges.

OPINION

STEWART, Judge.

Lareene Burrece pleaded no contest to one count of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance.[1] She preserved her right to appeal the order denying her unsuccessful attack on the search warrant for her *242 property in Big Lake.[2] Burrece claims that the tip supporting the warrant was stale, that evidence of electric consumption could not corroborate that tip, and that the district court's reliance on a trooper's telephonic testimony that supplemented his affidavit was impermissible. We conclude that all of those claims fail and affirm her conviction.

Facts and proceedings

According to the affidavit filed in support of the search warrant application for Burrece's property, Alaska State Trooper Timothy L. Bleicher interviewed Troy Heaven on August 4, 1995, regarding his possession of marijuana. In that interview, Heaven told Bleicher that he stole the marijuana when he and two juveniles burglarized the Big Lake Laundry Mat. Heaven also told Bleicher that he knew of another place where marijuana was grown. That place was located on Tract D, Echo Hills Subdivision, located at about .5 mile Echo Lake Drive. Heaven knew of the place because a friend of his had lived there.

In the interview, Heaven told Bleicher that his friend had been asked to leave by the owner of the property. Heaven said he drove out to the property about four months before the interview and found his friend removing a large bag of marijuana from a white trailer located on the property. Heaven reported that his friend told him that there were about twelve marijuana plants inside the trailer.

Bleicher went to the property and observed several structures including a white trailer with "boarded up and covered" windows. Bleicher learned that Mike and Lareene Burrece were the owners of the property that Heaven identified.

Bleicher asked John Bogue, the Matanuska Electric Association's Energy Service Manager, about the electricity consumption for that property. He was told by Bogue that there were two accounts on the property, both in the names of Mike and Lareene Burrece. Bogue told him that the electrical consumption was suspicious and consistent with a marijuana grow because the pattern of consumption was inconsistent with the normal increase in the winter months and the normal decrease in the summer months. Bogue did not provide any data on the kilowatts used on the property but did indicate that the unusual pattern had continued after Heaven's visit to the property.

On August 9, 1995, Bleicher executed an affidavit that included the information obtained from Heaven and from his investigation. He filed that affidavit in support of a request for a search warrant for Burrece's property. On August 10, 1995, District Court Judge Peter G. Ashman called from the Palmer court to the Trooper's office in Wasilla and asked Trooper Bleicher some questions about the investigation and his affidavit. Judge Ashman stated in part:

Trooper Bleicher is present at my request, by telephone today, I received a long affidavit for a search warrant in 3PA-95106SW and I . . . I'm basically prepared to grant the search warrant but I need to clarify a few points in the affidavit. [ ] I'm really basing my decision there's probable cause to search on matters contained in the affidavit, um and since that's been presented to me and sworn to, I believe that taking this additional telephonic testimony is [ ] I think there's ground to go forward in this fashion.

Judge Ashman asked Bleicher several questions and then announced, "I'm going to find that this is really not a proceeding on telephonic testimony but rather a telephonic ... an opportunity for the court to announce the basis of its decision and for the officer to take advisement telephonically." Judge Ashman granted the search warrant.

On August 14, 1995, the troopers served the search warrant and found eleven marijuana plants (two of them dead), "starter" marijuana plants, and over a pound of marijuana.

Burrece was indicted on three counts of fourth-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance. She moved to suppress the evidence that was seized pursuant to the warrant. Following a hearing, Superior Court Judge Beverly M. Cutler denied Burrece's *243 motion. Burrece entered a no contest plea to one of the counts, preserving the issues that she argues on appeal.

Discussion

First, Burrece argues that Heaven's tip was stale because it was four months old when given to Bleicher. Because the tip was four months old, she argues that there was no reasonable ground to believe there was evidence on the property when Bleicher applied for the warrant.

Before a search warrant can be issued, the issuing judge or magistrate must be satisfied that current information supports a finding that probable cause to search presently exists.[3] Whether the information presented to the court is fresh or stale is determined by a flexible test. That test considers the totality of the circumstances. One of those circumstances is the span of time that has passed from the acquisition of that information by the informer or the police officer and the presentation of that information to the court.[4] Other relevant circumstances include the type of crime involved and the character of the items sought.[5]

Probable cause to search requires sufficient information to permit the conclusion that the criminal activity, the contraband, or the evidence of the crime will be found at the place to be searched.[6] That conclusion does not have to reach an absolute certainty, but the State must provide "reasonable grounds" to justify the conclusion that the items searched for are at the premises to be searched.[7]

Bleicher's affidavit described the large amount of equipment commonly found in an operating grow, including high intensity lights, ballasts, tracks, timers, heaters, fans, pumps, and other equipment. Bleicher also noted that the electrical power for such an operation commonly is provided by the local utility and that windows in structures containing a grow are commonly covered to enhance the artificial-light cultivation. His affidavit also noted that the pattern of power consumption had not changed since Heaven had been at the property and that the trailer described by Heaven had boarded-up windows. All of this indicates that the site of marijuana cultivation is not likely to move in the four-month period between Heaven's visit to Burrece's property and the application for the search warrant.

Considering the totality of the circumstances in this case, we conclude that Judge Ashman could properly find that the information before him provided reasonable grounds to believe that evidence of a marijuana grow would be found when he issued the warrant. Judge Ashman could reasonably rely on the large amount of equipment that can be required for the cultivation of marijuana, the ongoing character of plant cultivation, coupled with the specific information in Bleicher's affidavit about Burrece's property to conclude that there would be evidence of a marijuana grow on Burrece's property.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
976 P.2d 241, 1999 WL 58572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burrece-v-state-alaskactapp-1999.