People v. Blehm

623 P.2d 411, 44 Colo. App. 472, 1980 Colo. App. LEXIS 781
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 17, 1980
Docket78-733
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 623 P.2d 411 (People v. Blehm) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Colorado Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Blehm, 623 P.2d 411, 44 Colo. App. 472, 1980 Colo. App. LEXIS 781 (Colo. Ct. App. 1980).

Opinion

PIERCE, Judge.

Defendant appeals her conviction of conspiracy to commit escape. We affirm.

In January 1978, defendant’s husband was confined in the Boulder County Jail awaiting trial on a number of felony charges. On January 15, he attempted to escape from the jail. On January 26, defendant went to the jail to visit her husband. She entered through an electronically operated security door marked “Visitors Entrance.” Posted on that door was a sign with three-eighths-inch lettering which read: “NOTICE THIS FACILITY IS EQUIPPED WITH AUDIO AND VISUAL SECURITY SYSTEMS.” An identical sign was posted in the booking room through which all prisoners enter the jail.

Defendant met with her husband in a visiting room which was divided into a visitors’ side and a prisoners’ side. A plexiglass partition extended from floor to ceiling and prevented any physical contact between visitors and prisoners. Defendant conversed with her husband over an intercom system which constituted the only means by which visitors and prisoners could communicate. One wall of the visiting room consisted of large glass windows, and on the other side of the windows was the jail master control room. From the master control room, jail personnel could see the prisoners and their visitors, and could also monitor the conversations being carried on over the intercom system.

Because of defendant’s husband’s previous escape attempt, the conversation between defendant and her husband was monitored by a sheriff’s officer who heard them discuss a plan for the prisoner’s escape. The plan involved the active participation of defendant and the use of firearms.

On January 30, 1978, defendant again visited her husband and again their conversation was monitored. As a result of the monitoring, jail officials learned that the *414 escape attempt would occur later the same day. When defendant left the jail, she was arrested and her car was seized. A search warrant for the car was issued based on the conversations monitored between defendant and her husband. The car was searched, and a number of items, including some marijuana, were seized.

At trial, defendant moved to suppress all evidence related to the monitored conversations. Her motions were denied, and the conversations and items seized were admitted into evidence.

I.

Defendant’s principal contention on appeal relates to the admissibility of the conversations which were monitored by jail officials. It is undisputed that the monitoring was not conducted pursuant to a court order or warrant. Nor was it conducted with the knowledge or consent of either of the parties. Defendant contends, therefore, that the monitoring and subsequent use by the state of the conversations violated her rights under the Fourth Amendment as well as various statutes.

The Fourth Amendment guarantees only against unreasonable searches, and not every search without a warrant is unreasonable. Larkin v. People, 177 Colo. 156, 493 P.2d 1 (1972). The test of reasonableness of a search requires balancing the need for the particular search against the invasion of personal rights involved. The elements which must be considered are “the scope of the particular intrusion, the manner in which it is conducted, the justification for initiating it and the place in which it is conducted.” Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 559, 99 S.Ct. 1861, 1884, 60 L.Ed.2d 447, 481 (1979). Also, in the context of this case, for there to be a search and seizure of a conversation which violates the Fourth Amendment, there must have been a justifiable expectation of privacy with respect to that conversation. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967).

The courts have generally recognized the existence of and justification for official surveillance in a prison environment, and that such surveillance does not necessarily violate the Fourth Amendment. Lanza v. New York, 370 U.S. 139, 82 S.Ct. 1218, 8 L.Ed.2d 384 (1962); Moore v. People, 171 Colo. 338, 467 P.2d 50 (1970). This recognition is based on the fact that detention facilities are unique places “fraught with security dangers.” Bell v. Wolfish, supra.

Additionally, the justification for intrusive prison practices is not dependent upon the status of the individual involved. Among the purposes of official surveillance in a prison environment are the preservation of internal order and discipline and the maintenance of institutional security against escape or unauthorized entry. In this context, no justifiable distinction can be made between one who has been convicted of a criminal act and one who is being detained prior to trial on criminal charges. United States v. Hearst, 563 F.2d 1331 (9th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U.S. 1000, 98 S.Ct. 1656, 56 L.Ed.2d 90 (1978). Nor is there necessarily a distinction between those who are detained within a facility and those who enter the facility as visitors, particularly when the purpose for the surveillance is the prevention of escape or unauthorized entry. See Lanza v. New York, supra.

In considering the reasonableness of the specific type of intrusion involved in this case, the monitoring of conversations, we must apply the test established in Katz v. United States, supra, and determine whether defendant had a justifiable expectation that her conversation with her husband was private. This test has previously been applied in Colorado in situations involving detention facilities.

In People v. Gallegos, 179 Colo. 211, 499 P.2d 315 (1972), it was determined that a prisoner’s constitutional rights were not violated by the use of comments he made while talking on a telephone when he voluntarily made those comments knowing of the imminent presence of a jail official.

In contrast, this court determined in People v. Harfmann, 38 Colo.App. 19, 555 P.2d *415 187 (1976), that prison officials created a justifiable expectation of privacy in a prisoner and his attorney when the two were escorted to an apparently secure room and were left alone in that room. As a result, the evidence obtained as a result of the ensuing covert surveillance of the prisoner and his attorney was held to be inadmissible against the attorney relative to charges concerning the introduction of narcotic drugs into the jail. Similarly, the California Supreme Court applied the same test in North v. Superior Court, 8 Cal.3d 301, 104 Cal.Rptr. 833, 502 P.2d 1305

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Bluebook (online)
623 P.2d 411, 44 Colo. App. 472, 1980 Colo. App. LEXIS 781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-blehm-coloctapp-1980.