Pullin v. Louisiana State Racing Com'n

484 So. 2d 105, 1986 La. LEXIS 5715
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedFebruary 24, 1986
Docket85-C-0752
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 484 So. 2d 105 (Pullin v. Louisiana State Racing Com'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pullin v. Louisiana State Racing Com'n, 484 So. 2d 105, 1986 La. LEXIS 5715 (La. 1986).

Opinion

484 So.2d 105 (1986)

Vernon PULLIN
v.
LOUISIANA STATE RACING COMMISSION.

No. 85-C-0752.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

February 24, 1986.

William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Robert A. Barnett, John E. Jackson, Jr., Asst. Attys. Gen., for defendant-applicant.

Salvador Anzelmo, Thomas W. Milliner, New Orleans, for plaintiff-respondent.

ON REHEARING

MARCUS, Justice.

We granted a rehearing to reconsider whether evidence obtained in a search by state police officers is admissible in a civil proceeding before the Louisiana State Racing Commission. The facts of this case are set forth in our original opinion, 477 So.2d 683. However, briefly stated, the evidence shows that members of the Louisiana State Police Racing Investigations Unit conducted a search of a barn at Delta Downs assigned to Vernon Pullin, a licensed owner and trainer of racehorses, and found a bottle of Dilaudid pills, a bottle of Mazindol pills, four syringes containing Dilaudid and a battery machine. After a hearing, the track stewards suspended Pullin for violating LAC 11-6:53.22 of the Rules of Racing.[1] The Louisiana State Racing Commission *106 upheld the stewards' ruling, fined Pullin $2,000 and suspended him for three years. On review, the trial court affirmed the commission's ruling. Pullin appealed. The court of appeal reversed. It found that the warrantless search was unconstitutional and suppressed the evidence.[2] On the commission's application, we granted certiorari to review the correctness of that decision.[3]

On original hearing, we concluded that the evidence was admissible. Primarily, we based our ruling on the finding that Pullin had consented to the search. By accepting his owner-trainer license, Pullin consented to all searches authorized by the commission or the steward representing the commission. LAC 11-6:53.25 (currently codified at 35 La.Admin.Code 1749 (1984)). We reasoned that all searches conducted by the State Police Racing Investigations Unit must be regarded as authorized because La.R.S. 4:166.5, which provides that the unit's expenses are to be covered by deductions from exotic wagering pools, makes the unit an adjunct of the commission. Since the search of Pullin's barn by the state police was authorized, he had consented to it, and therefore it was legal. Alternatively, we ruled that even if the evidence was obtained illegally, it would still be admissible because the exclusionary rule does not apply in civil administrative proceedings.

On reconsideration, we feel that the facts do not support our original finding that Pullin consented to the search of his stable. Pullin only consented to searches authorized by the commission or the steward representing the commission. There is no evidence that either the commissioner or the steward representing the commission gave the unit authorization to search Pullin's barn. Our reasoning in the original opinion that the search must be regarded as authorized because a statute provides for deductions to cover the police unit's expenses was incorrect. Since no evidence was introduced to the contrary, we find that the search was not authorized and thus not consented to by Pullin. In the absence of Pullin's consent, the police unit's warrantless search violated his fourth amendment rights. Therefore, the evidence was obtained illegally.

Since the search was illegal, the admissibility of the evidence depends upon whether the exclusionary rule applies in a civil proceeding before the Louisiana State Racing Commission. In United States v. Janis, 428 U.S. 433, 96 S.Ct. 3021, 49 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1976), the Supreme Court set forth a framework for deciding in what types of proceeding application of the exclusionary rule is appropriate. The appropriateness of extending the rule to a particular proceeding is to be determined by weighing the likely social benefits of excluding unlawfully seized evidence against the likely social costs. If the costs outweigh the benefits, then the court should not apply the rule.

The issue before the Janis court was whether the exclusionary rule should be applied in a federal civil tax assessment proceeding to bar evidence unlawfully seized by state law enforcement officials.[4] The Court observed that "the `prime purpose' of the rule, if not the sole one, `is to deter future unlawful police conduct.'" Thus, on the benefit side of the balance, it focused on the deterrent value of the exclusionary rule. According to the Court, two factors suggested that extending the rule to the civil tax proceeding would have only a slight deterrent effect. First, the state police officer had already been "punished" by exclusion of the evidence in the state criminal trial, and, secondly, the evidence would also be inadmissible in any federal criminal trial that might be held. Thus, the *107 court reasoned that the entire criminal enforcement process, which is the concern and duty of the officers, was frustrated, creating a substantial and efficient deterrent. Additionally, the Court emphasized the "intersovereign" nature of the violation—the officer who committed the unconstitutional search and seizure had no responsibility or duty to, or agreement with, the sovereign seeking to use the evidence. Under these circumstances, the Court felt that exclusion of relevant evidence from a civil suit by or against a different sovereign was "unlikely to provide significant, much less substantial, additional deterrence." On the cost side of the balance, the Court focused solely on the loss of "concededly relevant and reliable evidence." It concluded "that exclusion from federal civil proceedings of evidence unlawfully seized by a state criminal enforcement officer has not been shown to have a sufficient likelihood of deterring the conduct of the state police so that it outweighs the societal costs imposed by the exclusion." Accordingly, it held that the exclusionary rule was inapplicable.

In INS v. Lopez-Mendoza, 468 U.S. 1032, 104 S.Ct. 3479, 82 L.Ed.2d 778 (1984), the Supreme Court made its next pronouncement on the applicability of the exclusionary rule in civil proceedings. Unlike Janis, Lopez-Mendoza involved an "intrasovereign" violation. Specifically, the Court had to determine whether evidence obtained unlawfully by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agents was admissible in an INS civil deportation hearing. To resolve that issue, the Court applied the Janis balancing test.

In evaluating the likely benefits, the Court once again focused on the exclusionary rule's deterrent effect. Although there had been no actual criminal trial, it found that "the prospect of losing evidence that might otherwise be used in a criminal prosecution undoubtedly supplies some residual deterrent to unlawful conduct by INS officials." The Court acknowledged that the INS officer's primary objective was to use the evidence in a civil deportation proceeding and that the exclusionary rule would be most effective in "intrasovereign" situations. However, it found that other factors, unique to cases involving the INS, significantly reduced the likely deterrent value of the rule in deportation hearings.

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Bluebook (online)
484 So. 2d 105, 1986 La. LEXIS 5715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pullin-v-louisiana-state-racing-comn-la-1986.