People v. Swietlicki

2015 CO 67, 361 P.3d 411, 2015 WL 7423463
Supreme Court of Colorado·Decided November 23, 2015·No. Supreme Court Case 15SA129·Published·Cited by 184 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE HOOD

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

[ 1 In this interlocutory appeal, the People challenge the trial court's order suppressing evidence obtained from defendant Swietlicki's laptop computer. Police seized the laptop without a warrant and held it until a search warrant issued, at which time they searched the laptop and found child pornography. Because the seizure was justified under the plain view exception to the warrant requirement, we reverse the suppression order.

I. Facts and Procedural History

12 In January 2014, Detective Weaver of the Douglas County Sheriffs Office ("DCSO") responded to a middle school's report regarding J.M., a twelve-year-old female student. School staff had begun questioning J.M. about a Facebook posting of J.M. drinking what seemed to be an alcoholic beverage. They quickly became worried there was more to the situation and contacted police. Upon his arrival, Detective Weaver spoke to J.M. but elicited no additional information. Later that day, J.M.'s mother called the DCSO to say J.M. wanted to talk. During the next two-and-a-half weeks, J.M. and her *413 mother separately participated in a series of video-recorded interviews.

[ 3 J.M.'s interviews with Detective Weaver and a forensic interviewer occurred on January 21 and January 30, 2014, respectively. During these interviews, J.M. said John Swietlicki, her mother's then-fiancé, had been having regular sexual contact with her since she was approximately eight years old. The contact included vaginal touching, oral sex, and vaginal intercourse. She claimed that the most recent encounters had occurred earlier that month-January 2014-while J.M.'s mother was on a business trip.

1 4 J.M. said Swietlicki sometimes showed her pornography on his computers during these encounters. That pornography depicted "kids." She described how Swietlicki used a "black and gray flash drive" to transfer pornography from his desktop computer to his laptop. Swietlicki used the laptop so that he and J.M. could view the pornography in locations other than the room off their garage, where Swietlicki kept his desktop computer.

15 During Detective Weaver's interviews with J.M.'s mother, she corroborated various details surrounding J.M.'s allegations. For example, she acknowledged owning, and physically produced, lingerie matching the description of lingerie J.M. said Swietlicki had asked her to wear for him, and she confirmed the occurrence, travel route, and timing of a trip J.M. and Swietlicki took to California, which was one of the specific instances in which J.M. alleged abuse.

T6 Although Swietlicki went into hiding shortly after the investigation began, he maintained contact with J.M.'s mother via text messages. J.M.'s mother said Swietlicki had asked her to send him photographs of the room off the garage. Swietlicki gave J.M.'s mother the password to his desktop computer located there, but she discovered the computer had been wiped clean.

T 7 She also disclosed that Swietlicki's only current source of income was unemployment benefits and that his behavior during their five-year relationship suggested he had no other liquid assets to speak of.

8 A consent search of the couple's house revealed Swietlicki's laptop was missing.

T9 The district attorney filed sexual assault charges against Swietlicki and the court issued a nationwide warrant for his arrest. In March 2014, Deputy Jorgenson-a DCSO deputy assigned to the U.S. Marshals Task Force in Colorado-asked Deputy Clauss, a U.S. Marshal stationed in Wisconsin, to investigate whether Swietlicki was staying with relatives in Wisconsin. Deputy Clauss conducted surveillance on multiple relatives' addresses and decided to interview Swietlicki's cousin, Chad Saegert, first. 1 On March 18, 2014, Clauss went to Saegert's home and spoke with him.

" 10 Saegert said he'd had no contact with Swietlicki for approximately two years. However, after Deputy Clauss explained the charges against Swietlicki and notified Sae-gert that harboring a fugitive and lying to law enforcement are crimes, Saegert revealed Swietlicki was sleeping in Saegert's bedroom. Deputy Clauss then arrested Swietlicki and took him to a local jail.

{11 At Deputy Jorgenson's request, Clauss returned to Saegert's home forty-five to ninety minutes later to ask about Swiet-licki's vehicle. Saegert invited Clauss inside the house, where two other relatives were then present. Saegert pointed to a laptop sitting on a table and said the laptop was Swictlicki's. 2

112 Deputy Clauss immediately called Deputy Jorgenson, who in turn contacted Detective Weaver, to ask about the laptop. At Weaver's behest, Clauss seized the laptop because of J.M.'s statements concerning child pornography. Weaver and Jorgenson brought Swietlicki and the laptop to Colorado after Swietlicki was cleared for extradition. *414 DCSO later obtained a warrant, searched the laptop, and found child pornography on it. The People brought additional charges against Swietlicki based on this discovery.

113 Swietlicki moved to suppress all evidence found on the laptop. The trial court granted the motion, finding that the police lacked probable cause to seize the laptop. The court further found both the plain view and exigent cireumstances exceptions to the warrant requirement inapplicable.

14 The People appeal under section 16-12-102(1), C.R.S. (2014), and C.A.R. 4.1.

II. Standard of Review

115 "When reviewing a suppression ordér, we defer to the trial court's findings of fact if they are supported by competent evidence in the record." People v. Sotelo, 2014 CO 74, ¶ 18, 336 P.3d 188, 191. "We review the trial court's legal conclusions de novo and reverse if the trial court applied an erroneous legal standard or came to a conclusion of constitutional law that is not supported by the factual findings." Id.

III. Analysis

T16 We begin by discussing the Fourth Amendment as it applies to warrantless seizures of containers. We next analyze the plain view exception to the warrant requirement in this context. We conclude that the warrantless seizure of Swietlicki's laptop did not violate the Fourth Amendment. 3 because it was justified under the plain view exception. >

A. Warrantless Seizures of Containers Under the Fourth Amendment

117 The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits "unreasonable searches and seizures" of personal property. U.S. Const. amend. IV. Warrant-less seizures of personal property are presumptively unreasonable, and hence invalid, under the Fourth Amendment. Illinois v. McArthur, 531 U.S. 326, 330, 121 S.Ct. 946, 148 L.Ed.2d 838 (2001); People v. Gothard, 185 P.3d 180, 183 (Colo.2008). This general rule holds true where the property seized is a closed container the contents of which remain concealed. United States v. Place, 462 U.S. 696, 700-01, 103 S.Ct.

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People v. Swietlicki, 2015 CO 67, 361 P.3d 411, 2015 WL 7423463 (Colo. 2015).

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