People v. Folsom

431 P.3d 652
CourtColorado Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 30, 2017
DocketCourt of Appeals No. 14CA0764
StatusPublished

This text of 431 P.3d 652 (People v. Folsom) 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. Folsom, 431 P.3d 652 (Colo. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Opinion by JUDGE BERGER

¶ 1 In this "peeping" case, a jury convicted Nimroid Boles Folsom of stalking (serious emotional distress), and two counts of attempted invasion of privacy for sexual gratification. Folsom's principal defense at trial was misidentification.

¶ 2 On appeal he contends that (1) the seizure, search, and later admission into evidence of videos the police found on his iPods violated the Fourth Amendment; (2) the trial court erred when it prohibited the introduction of alternate suspect evidence; (3) the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to convict him of stalking; (4) the victim's show-up and in-court identifications violated his right to due process; (5) and the stalking statute is unconstitutional.1

¶ 3 We conclude that based on a United States Supreme Court case that was decided after Folsom's trial, the admission of the videos found on his iPods violated the Fourth Amendment and was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. We also conclude that the trial court applied an erroneous test for the admission of alternate suspect evidence and that, under the circumstances, the prohibition of alternate suspect evidence deprived *656Folsom of a fair trial. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

I. Relevant Facts and Procedural History

¶ 4 The victim was walking through her living room one night after taking a shower when she noticed that the blinds of her living room window were open. She walked toward the window to close the blinds and saw a man standing outside the window. She only saw the side of his face, pretended not to see him, closed the blinds, and dressed. She then went upstairs to see if the man was still there; he was. She saw him jump the fence into her neighbor's yard and then re-enter her yard. She called the police and described the man as a "tanned Caucasian" man, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, jeans, and glasses.

¶ 5 A few minutes later police officers saw Folsom in an alley less than two blocks from the victim's house. After they watched Folsom apparently looking into windows of apartments along the alley, the officers stopped him. When asked what he was doing, Folsom told officers that he was looking for a place to plug in his van's electric heater. At the time he was stopped, Folsom, a dark-skinned African-American man, was wearing a dark brown leather jacket, green cargo pants, a multi-colored knit cap, and glasses.

¶ 6 Meanwhile, the 911 operator on the phone with the victim told her that an officer was in contact with "whoever was outside of [her] house," and that police would arrive shortly to speak with her. The police then took the victim to where Folsom was being detained for a show-up identification.

¶ 7 At the show-up the victim identified Folsom as the person she saw outside her window that evening, stating that she recognized his glasses. She also told police that she recognized him from a previous incident at her home nearly six months prior.

¶ 8 Based on the victim's identification, the police arrested Folsom and conducted a search incident to arrest. The police seized two iPod devices2 that Folsom was carrying. They searched both devices and found numerous videos, which were admitted into evidence against him.

II. The Admission of the Videos from Folsom's iPods Violated the Fourth Amendment and Requires Reversal

¶ 9 Folsom argues that the warrantless search of his iPods violated the Fourth Amendment and that because the videos were admitted into evidence against him, the trial was infected by constitutional error. We agree.

A. Additional Facts

¶ 10 The arresting officers found two iPods on Folsom's person. Without obtaining a warrant, they searched the iPods and discovered seventeen videos of two general types. One set of videos showed fully clothed women walking in public places-the videos focused on the lower half of the women's bodies. The second set of videos showed a partially clothed woman changing clothing and masturbating in a bedroom. These latter videos appeared to have been taken through a window.

¶ 11 Folsom moved to suppress the videos found on his iPods as a product of an unconstitutional search. The trial court denied his motion, concluding that the search was a valid search incident to arrest. All of these videos were admitted at trial.

B. Law and Analysis

¶ 12 The United States Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures of their homes or property. U.S. Const. amend. IV. Warrantless searches are presumptively unreasonable unless they fall under one of the established exceptions to the warrant requirement. People v. Dumas , 955 P.2d 60, 62 (Colo. 1998).

¶ 13 A search incident to arrest is one such exception. People v. Marshall , 2012 CO 72, ¶ 10, 289 P.3d 27. This exception "allows law enforcement officers, when making a lawful arrest, to search an arrestee's person and the area within the arrestee's immediate *657control." People v. Gothard , 185 P.3d 180, 184 (Colo. 2008).

¶ 14 Not surprisingly, the application of the Fourth Amendment to advanced technological devices-some of which are, in reality, portable computers with amazing storage and other capabilities-has been difficult. While ordinarily the police may search a person incident to arrest and seize contraband or other evidence of a crime without further justification, courts have recognized that the warrantless seizure of a person's computer or similar device raises acute Fourth Amendment issues. See Riley v. California , 573 U.S. ----, ----, 134 S.Ct. 2473, 2498, 189 L.Ed.2d 430 (2014) ; United States v. Ganoe , 538 F.3d 1117, 1127 (9th Cir. 2008) ; United States v. Turner , 169 F.3d 84 (1st Cir. 1999).

¶ 15 In Riley , decided after Folsom's trial, the Supreme Court held that data stored on a cell phone could not be searched incident to arrest, and therefore a warrant was required to search the phone. 573 U.S. at ----, 134 S.Ct. at 2493.

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Bluebook (online)
431 P.3d 652, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-folsom-coloctapp-2017.