State v. Curtis.

394 P.3d 716, 139 Haw. 486, 2017 WL 2061691, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 83
CourtHawaii Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 2017
DocketSCWC-12-0000133
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 394 P.3d 716 (State v. Curtis.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Hawaii Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Curtis., 394 P.3d 716, 139 Haw. 486, 2017 WL 2061691, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 83 (haw 2017).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT BY

RECKTENWALD, C.J.

This case requires us to determine what information must appear on the face of an “anticipatory” search warrant, i.e., a warrant that cannot be executed until some expected future event occurs. This case arose when a FedEx employee discovered marijuana in a package addressed to a residence on Kaua'i. The Kaua'i Police Department (KPD) was contacted and decided to conduct a controlled delivery of the package to the address listed. They applied for a warrant to allow them to search the premises upon completion of the delivery. However, rather than listing this triggering condition, the warrant issued by the district court instead authorized the KPD to conduct the search “forthwith.”

The KPD completed the controlled delivery, and Petitioners Jason Curtis and Melissa Hall were charged with drug offenses based on evidence seized in the subsequent search. Petitioners moved to suppress that evidence, arguing that the anticipatory search warrant was invalid because it failed to list the triggering condition. The circuit court denied Petitioners’ motion, and the Intermediate Court of Appeal (ICA) affirmed.

We are faced with a question of first impression for this court: Does the Hawafii Constitution require that an anticipatory search warrant identify the triggering condition on the face of the warrant? In light of the privacy protections contained in article I, section 7 of the Hawai'i Constitution, we hold that an anticipatory search warrant must, on its face, identify the triggering condition to be valid. We therefore vacate the ICA’s February 23, 2016 Judgment on Appeal and the circuit court’s denial of Petitioners’ motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to the unlawful search warrant, and remand the case to the circuit court for proceedings consistent with this Opinion.

I. Background

A. Anticipatory Search Warrant

On December 1, 2010, a FedEx employee at the Honolulu FedEx sorting facility opened a parcel that he suspected contained illegal narcotics. The parcel was addressed to “Jennifer ROBERTSON” at a Kaua'i residential address (Subject Premises). After discovering plastic bags in the parcel that appeared to contain marijuana, the FedEx employee notified a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officer. The parcel and its contents were subsequently turned over to the KPD. After testing and weighing the suspected marijuana, the KPD determined that the parcel contained approximately eight pounds of marijuana.

KPD Officer Paris Resinto applied for and obtained a court order authorizing KPD officers to install in the parcel a tracking device *489 that would permit the KPD to track the location of the parcel and determine when the parcel was opened. In conjunction with obtaining the order for the tracking device, Officer Resinto applied for an anticipatory search warrant to search the Subject Premises for the parcel and its contents, including the tracking device.

Officer Resinto’s affidavit in support of the anticipatory search warrant explained that (1) the KPD planned to effect a controlled delivery of the parcel under police surveillance to the Subject Premises to “identify the person(s) involved in this illegal drug shipment”; (2) the KPD would install the tracking device in the parcel; and (3) after the tracking device was installed, Officer Resinto and KPD Sergeant Darren Rose would maintain custody of the parcel until it was delivered to the Subject Premises. The affidavit also incorporated three documents by reference: a description of Officer Resinto’s training and experience, the affidavit supporting the application for the tracking device, and the order granting the application.

The affidavit stated that Officer Resinto “has reasonable grounds to believe that the property described herein will be located in the [Subject Premises] after the time of delivery of the suspect parcel and request that a search warrant issue commanding that a search be made of said residence for said property!.]” The affidavit also requested the issuance of a search warrant to search the Subject Premises “within forty-eight (48) hours after the time of delivery of the subject parcel!.]”

On December 2, 2010, the district court 1 issued an “Anticipatory Search Warrant” based on Officer Resinto’s affidavit, authorizing KPD officers to search the Subject Premises for the parcel and its contents. The search warrant did not set forth the triggering condition for the execution of warrant, and it did not mention the controlled delivery of the parcel described in Officer Resinto’s affidavit. Rather, the search warrant stated:

Affidavit(s) having been made before me that the property described herein may be found at the location set forth herein and that it falls within the grounds specified by said affidavit(s). And I am satisfied that there is probable cause to believe that the property described herein is located within the property to be searched and that the foregoing grounds for application for issuance of a search warrant exist:
YOU ARE HEREBY COMMANDED forthwith to search:
[The Subject Premises]

(Emphases added.)

It also described the property to be searched and stated that “[t]he search shall take place within 10 days of this date.”

That same day, the KPD conducted a controlled delivery of the parcel to the Subject Premises. Sergeant Rose approached the Subject Premises and handed the parcel to Curtis, who carried it inside the Subject Premises. Sergeant Rose also saw Hall and co-defendant Genevieve Walker. Officer Rose asked Walker if she was “Jennifer Robertson,” the named addressee of the parcel. Walker said yes and signed the FedEx delivery form. Sergeant Rose left the Subject Premises and notified other KPD officers participating in the investigation that the parcel had been delivered.

About five minutes after the parcel had been delivered, the tracking device alerted the KPD officers that the parcel had been opened. In response, the KPD officers went to the Subject Premises and executed the search warrant.

In executing the warrant, the officers observed Curtis, Hall, and Walker and found the contents of the opened parcel, including the marijuana, in various parts of the Subject Premises. The officers recovered one of the bags of marijuana from the parcel. The officers also recovered drug paraphernalia and over $1,000 in cash.

B. Circuit Court Proceedings

On January 19, 2011, Curtis, Hall, and Walker were charged with: (1) second-degree commercial promotion of marijuana in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) *490 § 712-1249.6(1)(a) and/or (b), 2 (2) unlawful use of drug paraphernalia in violation of HRS § 329-43.5(a), 3 and (3) second-degree promotion of a detrimental drug in violation of HRS §

Related

State v. Brown
Hawaii Supreme Court, 2025
State v. Lee
509 P.3d 689 (Court of Appeals of Oregon, 2022)
State v. Kalua.
434 P.3d 1202 (Hawaii Supreme Court, 2019)
State of Iowa v. Jesus Angel Ramirez
895 N.W.2d 884 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
394 P.3d 716, 139 Haw. 486, 2017 WL 2061691, 2017 Haw. LEXIS 83, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-curtis-haw-2017.