Commonwealth v. Lowery

451 A.2d 245, 305 Pa. Super. 66, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5386
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 1, 1982
Docket770
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 451 A.2d 245 (Commonwealth v. Lowery) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Lowery, 451 A.2d 245, 305 Pa. Super. 66, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5386 (Pa. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

BROSKY, Judge:

This is an appeal from a judgment of sentence. Appellant was convicted in a nonjury trial of possession of an unlawful substance, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and sentenced to one year probation.

The trial court denied appellant’s motions for a new trial and for arrest of judgment. First, it rejected appellant’s claim that a police search of his bedroom with the consent of appellant’s mother violated his Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Second, the court found that the mother voluntarily consented to the police search, and that the drugs seized during the search were therefore admissible as evidence. We affirm the decision of the trial court.

The standard of review concerning the findings of a suppression court is well-established. We must consider the evidence of the Commonwealth and so much of the evidence for the defense as, fairly read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. Silo, 480 Pa. 15, 18, 389 A.2d 62, 63 (1978); Commonwealth v. Harris, 479 Pa. 131, 387 A.2d 869 (1978); Commonwealth v. Kichline, 468 Pa. 265, 361 A.2d 282 (1976). “Where the suppression court’s findings are amply supported by the record they may not be disturbed on appeal.” Commonwealth v. O’Bryant, 479 Pa. 534, 537, 388 A.2d 1059, 1061 (1978); Commonwealth v. Bundy, 458 Pa. 240, 328 A.2d 517 (1974).

*70 The facts may be summarized as follows. At 11:15 p.m. on December 5, 1980, two police officers from the Pine-Marshall-Bradford Woods Police Department appeared at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Clinton A. Lowery, appellant’s parents. Appellant was asleep in the basement at the time. The police told Mrs. Lowery they believed appellant had secreted approximately 100 squares of LSD in his bedroom bookshelf, and asked her permission to search the room. Explaining that she could refuse to allow the search, the police said they would obtain a search warrant if she did so. The police did not inform Mrs. Lowery that they had a search warrant in their possession at the time.

Mrs. Lowery said if there were any drugs in her residence, she wanted them out. After further discussion, she signed a consent warrant. The two officers and Mrs. Lowery proceeded to appellant’s bedroom, where a search revealed 98 squares of LSD inside a book on a bookshelf. The officers then woke up appellant and arrested him.

Appellant contends that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his bedroom under the Fourth Amendment and was the only person who could have validly consented to its search. Since he did not consent, he argues, the evidence seized should have been suppressed at trial.

“. . . Whether an individual is entitled to the protection of the fourth amendment ‘depends not upon a property right in the invaded place but upon whether the person who claims the protection of the Amendment has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place.” Commonwealth v. Sell, 288 Pa.Super. 371, 377, 432 A.2d 206, 210 (1981), citing Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143, 99 S.Ct. 421, 430, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), reh. den., 439 U.S. 1122, 99 S.Ct. 1035, 59 L.Ed.2d 83 (1979); Commonwealth v. Karpinski, 281 Pa.Super. 323, 422 A.2d 190 (1980).

The appellant claims a legitimate expectation of privacy in his bedroom based on his payment of $100 per month room and board, his subjective intent to exclude all others, and his claimed exclusive use of the room.

*71 Property rights, actual usage, and historical distinctions are all used to determine whether the Fourth Amendment right to privacy applies. Commonwealth v. Sell, supra, 288 Pa.Super. at 377, 432 A.2d at 210. But . . . “in considering the reasonableness of asserted privacy expectations, . . . no single factor invariably will be determinative.” Rakas v. Illinois, supra, 439 U.S. at 152, 99 S.Ct. at 435.

In general, to have a reasonable expectation of privacy, one must intend to exclude others and must exhibit that intent. Commonwealth ex rel. Cabey v. Rundle, 432 Pa. 466, 248 A.2d 197 (1968); Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). Furthermore, as most commonly expressed, the privacy test is twofold: the expectation must not only be “actual (subjective,)” but also one that “society is prepared to recognize as ‘reasonable.’ ” Katz, supra, 389 U.S. at 360, 88 S.Ct, at 516 (Harlan, J., concurring).

Appellant argued that he had such an expectation as a rent-paying tenant. It is true that a landlord or lessor cannot consent to a search of a tenant’s premises, regardless of the lessor’s right to enter and inspect. Commonwealth v. Berry, 265 Pa.Super. 319, 401 A.2d 1230 (1979); Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 81 S.Ct. 776, 5 L.Ed.2d 828 (1961).

But the trial judge found that no landlord-tenant relationship existed here between appellant and his parents. In his opinion, he stated,

. . . the fact that the defendant agreed to pay his parents $100 a month board does not put him in the special relationship of landlord and tenant. Defendant was merely contributing (and not on an entirely regular basis) to the support of a household of which he was a member. Additionally, the defendant had full access to the entire house, not just to his bedroom. It is reasonable therefore to conclude that the defendant had no expectation of privacy that would exclude his mother from his bedroom.

*72 “[I]n determining what is ‘reasonable,’ all surrounding facts and circumstances must be considered.” Commonwealth v. Latshaw, 481 Pa. 298, 306, 392 A.2d 1301, 1305 (1978), cert. den., 441 U.S. 931, 99 S.Ct. 2050, 60 L.Ed.2d 659 (1979) . Applying that standard, we find the lower court’s findings amply supported by the record.

The record indicates that Mrs. Lowery entered appellant’s room for a number of purposes (closing windows, depositing clean laundry, inspecting for dirt). At no time did appellant ever protest her entry or forbid her or any other member of the family from entering his room. Appellant’s door was open at the time police searched the room, and there was testimony that appellant never locked his door.

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Bluebook (online)
451 A.2d 245, 305 Pa. Super. 66, 1982 Pa. Super. LEXIS 5386, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-lowery-pasuperct-1982.