People v. Frank

85 A.D.2d 109, 447 N.Y.S.2d 558, 1982 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 17075
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided February 26, 1982·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Denman, J.

Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree and in the sixth degree alleging, inter alia, that his pretrial motion to suppress the LSD and phencyclidine seized from his vehicle and taped conversations between him and one James Lynch obtained pursuant to an eavesdropping warrant should have been granted. Additionally, he urges that he should have been granted a hearing tp determine whether procedures were established to minimize the interception of nonpertinent telephone calls. We find that certain conversations should have been suppressed and that a minimization hearing is necessary for purposes of which we reverse and remit for a new trial.

Based on the affidavits of investigators for the Niagara County Drug Task Force, the District Attorney of Niagara County obtained an eavesdropping warrant authorizing the wiretapping of a telephone number listed to James Lynch at 2332 Niagara Falls Boulevard, Town of Wheat-field. The warrant provided, in relevant part, as follows:

“you are hereby authorized to intercept communications of james lynch and any and all other persons using the premises known as 2332 Niagara Falls Blvd., Town of Wheatfield, New York, said residence containing telephone number 731-9631, listed in the name of James Lynch, between the said James Lynch and members of the general public and any and all other persons using said telephone for the purpose of buying and/or selling controlled substances, viz., Phencyclidine, Marijuana, etc. * * *

“This authorization to intercept the communications described over telephone number Town of Wheatfield, New York, 731-9631 shall be executed as soon as practicable [111] and shall be conducted in such a way as to minimize the interception of communications not otherwise subject to eavesdropping under Section 700 of the Criminal Procedure Law.

“You are permitted to make secret entry upon premises located at 2332 Niagara Falls Blvd., Town of Wheatfield, New York.”

The warrant was subsequently amended to correct the telephone number to 731-3961 as the numbers had been transposed. On May 17,1978 the District Attorney applied for an order extending the warrant. The order authorizing the extension stated, in pertinent part, as follows:

“The communication facility as to which authority to intercept is granted is the private telephone located in the dwelling of james lynch, 2332 Niagara Falls Blvd., Town of Wheatfield, New York.

“You are permitted to make secret entry upon premises located at 2332 Niagara Falls Blvd., Town of Wheatfield, New York, if such entry is necessary, to install a eaves dropping [sic] device.”

As a result of information gained through the use of the wiretap, a search warrant was obtained for James Lynch, for the defendant, and for the vehicles which each of them was known to drive. Execution of the warrant for defendant and his vehicle resulted in the seizure of a quantity of phencyclidine and LSD, the possession of which formed the basis for the charges on which defendant was convicted.

At the trial the Chief of the Niagara County Drug Task Force testified that in addition to the wiretap, a “bug” was installed in the kitchen of the Lynch residence on May 20, 1978 and that two conversations between Lynch and defendant were intercepted on that device. The tapes of those conversations were admitted into evidence. Defendant had moved for suppression of those conversations prior to trial on the ground that the warrant did not authorize the planting of a “bug”. Defendant contends that the eavesdropping warrant authorized the interception of telephone communications alone and thus the two conversations obtained through use of the bug should have been suppressed. He claims further that the drugs seized from his [112] car pursuant to the search warrant must be suppressed because it was only by listening to the bugged conversations that investigators learned when he would be at Lynch’s residence with the drugs.

In response, the People contend that that portion of the warrant which authorized the secret entry upon the premises “if such entry is necessary to install an eavesdropping device” was authority to enter and plant the bug because entry was not necessary to install a wiretap. This argument overlooks the fact that such authorization is required by statute to be included in an eavesdropping warrant (CPL 700.30, subd 8). Furthermore, if that phraseology was intended to authorize the planting of a bug, the term “if such entry is necessary” would be superfluous because entry is certainly necessary to implant such a device.

The People take the position that since the issuing magistrate found probable cause for interception of telephonic conversations concerning drug transactions at the Lynch premises, the authorization is broad enough to include nontelephonic conversations on the premises obtained by means of an eavesdropping device. According to this view the invasion of defendant’s right to privacy is the same whether the means used is a wiretap or a bug.

That somewhat cavalier approach ignores the fact that an eavesdropping warrant, like any other warrant, is subject to the command of the Fourth Amendment that it be supported by probable cause and “particularly describ[e] the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized” (Berger v New York, 388 US 41, 55). The requirement that a warrant be carefully circumscribed was designed to remedy the evil of general warrants and to prevent the seizure of one thing under a warrant describing another. The scope of the warrant is therefore “inexorably intertwined” with the existence of probable cause to support it (People v Juliano, 74 AD2d 881; see, also, People v Nieves, 36 NY2d 396). Indeed, the statute under which the eavesdropping warrant was issued requires such restriction. CPL 700.30 (subd 4) provides that an eavesdropping warrant must contain “[a] particular description of the type of communications sought to be intercepted”.

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People v. Frank, 85 A.D.2d 109, 447 N.Y.S.2d 558, 1982 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 17075 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1982).

85 A.D.2d 109 (People v. Frank) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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