State v. Clark

454 So. 2d 232
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 27, 1984
DocketK83-1147
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 454 So. 2d 232 (State v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clark, 454 So. 2d 232 (La. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

454 So.2d 232 (1984)

STATE of Louisiana, Relator,
v.
Earl CLARK, Jr. and Bret K. Verrett, Respondents.

No. K83-1147.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 27, 1984.
Writ Denied September 20, 1984.

*233 Edwin O. Ware, Dist. Atty., G. Earl Humphries, III, Asst. Dist. Atty., Alexandria, for defendant-relator.

Michelle Fournet, Small, Williamson & Brocato, Alexandria, for plaintiffs-respondents.

Before CUTRER, DOUCET and YELVERTON, JJ.

YELVERTON, Judge.

The issue in this case is whether a motion to suppress evidence seized by a private citizen in a prosecution for misdemeanor offenses was properly granted under the exclusionary rule. We hold that the motion was improperly granted.

The facts are: On the evening of August 16, 1983, Earl Ashmore heard several gunshots fired in an area near the site of his partially completed home on which he was working near the community of Glenmora in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. As president of a hunting club having a lease in the area, he was concerned. He thought there might be poaching because he had been hearing gunshots for two weeks prior to this date. He put up his tools and went out on the public road to see what he could find.

As he was driving his pickup along Ashmore Road adjacent to the fenced and posted property of a Mr. Monroe, he observed that a gate, normally wired closed, was open. He stopped and looked closely. It had rained within the hour. There was evidence of the tracks of a three-wheel vehicle leading onto Mr. Monroe's property but not out again. Suspecting that the person or persons who had fired the shots were still on the property, he wired the gate shut and started to leave to notify a wildlife enforcement agent. Before he could leave, he heard a three-wheel vehicle approaching. He entered the property and waited in some tall grass for the three-wheel vehicle to stop at the gate. When the three-wheeler came into view he recognized the defendants and saw a dead doe and a gun lying on Bret Verrett's lap. He also noticed two more guns in the gun rack on the front of the three-wheeler.

At the moment the three-wheeler stopped, Ashmore stepped from his hiding place and grabbed both the young defendants by their shoulders. When one of them made a motion as if to reach for a gun, *234 Ashmore advised against such a move and then took possession of all three weapons.

He then informed the defendants that he was taking the deer, their three-wheeler and their guns to a local wildlife agent who could handle the matter. Ashmore then told the defendants to "hit the road walking" and to go home. The defendants left. Ashmore took the evidence to a deputy sheriff's house who in turn phoned the wildlife office. Two wildlife enforcement agents came and took possession of the property that had been seized by Ashmore.

The two wildlife agents then proceeded to the home of one of the defendants where both of them were found. The defendants were advised of their rights and were issued citations for hunting with an unplugged gun, a violation of LSA-R.S. 56:124(2); hunting and taking deer during closed season, a violation of LSA-R.S. 56:123(A); taking of illegal deer, a violation of LSA-R.S. 56:124(1); hunting without a valid license, a violation of LSA-R.S. 56:103(A); and hunting without a big game license, a violation of LSA-R.S. 56:103(C)(1).

The defendants filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence seized by Ashmore. After a hearing the trial judge granted the motion to suppress. His reasoning was that Ashmore made an unlawful arrest because the offenses were misdemeanors, and there is no authority under Louisiana law for a private citizen to make an arrest for a misdemeanor. He then concluded that the evidence seized was consequently unlawfully seized and had to be suppressed.

We granted a writ on the application of the State and ordered that the complete record be forwarded to this court for a full hearing.

The matter is now before us for a decision.

OPINION

The trial judge applied the exclusionary rule. The State argues that the exclusionary rule does not apply to seizures by private citizens. After a careful examination of the facts as well as the several cases by our Supreme Court touching on this subject, we conclude that the State is correct: the exclusionary rule does not apply to seizures by private citizens. Therefore, the trial judge was incorrect in suppressing the evidence. We reach this conclusion as a result of the following reasoning process.

Article 1, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 declares in part:

"Section 5. Every person shall be secure in his person, property ... and effects against unreasonable searches, seizures, or invasions of privacy...."

"The universal interpretation of provisions similar to Article 1, Section 5 and the Fourth Amendment ... has been that government intrusion upon any of the elements of personal security specifically listed therein by a search or seizure conducted outside of the judicial process, without prior approval of a judge or magistrate, is prohibited as unreasonable per se." State v. Reeves, 427 So. 2d 403 (La.1982) (dissenting opinion of Justice Dennis).

The seizure by Ashmore, who was neither a governmental agent nor acting under the color of any statutory authority, was not government intrusion. It was the act of a private citizen.

It is well settled that the applicability of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution against unreasonable searches and the exclusionary rule of Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961) is limited to cases where the seizure is effected by governmental agencies. State v. Mora, 307 So. 2d 317 (La.1975), remanded for clarification 423 U.S. 809, 96 S.Ct. 20, 46 L.Ed.2d 29, on remand 330 So. 2d 900 (La.1976), cert. den. 429 U.S. 1004, 97 S.Ct. 538, 50 L.Ed.2d 616 (1976).

Whether the rule excluding evidence from a criminal trial because of an unreasonable seizure applies to evidence seized by private persons, has never been decided by the Louisiana Supreme Court since Article I, Section 5 of the Louisiana Constitution *235 of 1974 came into existence. Earlier, under the Constitution of 1921, the issue was squarely presented in the case of State v. Mora, supra, and answered in the negative. However, in the subsequent case of State v. Hutchinson, 349 So.2d 1252 (La. 1977), Justice Dennis as the organ of the court reserved judgment on the question stating that, although under the Fourth Amendment the rule still holds, under our new Constitutional provision which grants broader protection to citizens than the Fourth Amendment, "[we] are unwilling to hold that ... private searches and seizures are not within the ambit of protection afforded by our State Charter." That was not the basis for the decision validating the seizure, however, as the court found that the search in that case was not unreasonable and based its decision on that finding.

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Bluebook (online)
454 So. 2d 232, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clark-lactapp-1984.