State v. DeAlo

748 P.2d 194, 73 Utah Adv. Rep. 94, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 611, 1987 WL 25397
CourtCourt of Appeals of Utah
DecidedDecember 23, 1987
Docket860232-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 748 P.2d 194 (State v. DeAlo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. DeAlo, 748 P.2d 194, 73 Utah Adv. Rep. 94, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 611, 1987 WL 25397 (Utah Ct. App. 1987).

Opinions

OPINION

BENCH, Judge:

Defendant seeks reversal of his jury conviction of possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, in violation of Utah Code Ann. § 58-37-8(l)(a)(ii) (1986).1 On appeal defendant contends the trial court erred in: 1) ruling he had no standing to contest the search of the car; 2) instructing the jury on aiding and abetting pursuant to Utah Code Ann. § 76-2-202 (1978); and 3) admitting a California search warrant and affidavit and a “dope ledger” into evidence. We reverse and remand for a new trial.

On February 12, 1986, a police officer stopped a vehicle for speeding near Salina, Utah. Defendant Elias R. DeAlo was driving the vehicle and Rafael A. Villa was a passenger.2 Before stopping the vehicle, the officer had learned, through the state’s computer, that the car was registered to Antonio Villa of New York but that the registration had been suspended.

After stopping the car, the officer examined defendant’s California driver’s license, Rafael Villa’s New York driver’s license, and the car’s registration which indicated the car was registered to Antonio Villa of New York. Rafael Villa told the officer that Antonio Villa was his brother. Based on the appearance of the men, the appearance of the car, the suspended status of the license plate, and the aroma of the car, the officer asked if there were controlled substances in the car. Defendant said there were none. The officer then obtained defendant’s written consent to search the car. The officer first searched the trunk of the car and found items belonging to both defendant and Rafael Villa, including spare tires, extra fuel, a tool box, and a suitcase. He also saw “a metal container fabricated into the vehicle from the front portion of the trunk.” The officer then searched the interior of the car and observed many items of personal property which he was advised belonged to defendant and Rafael Villa, including pillows, blankets, cassette tapes, and clothing. He also saw hinges riveted to the floorboard behind the bottom portion of the back seat. The officer then discontinued the search. A short time later he returned to the vehicle with a search warrant and opened the metal compartment. He discovered five packages wrapped in duct tape, the contents of which were later analyzed as cocaine. Defendant [196]*196denied knowledge of the metal box and its contents.

Prior to trial and before the defendants’ cases were severed, defendants filed a motion to suppress. At the suppression hearing, defendants called the arresting officer as a witness. The officer testified that at the time of the stop, defendant DeAlo was driving and had the keys to the car and trunk, that both defendants’ personal belongings were in the car and trunk, that the defendants were on a two week vacation traveling from California to New York, and that he understood Rafael Villa was using the car with his brother’s permission. The court ruled defendants had no standing to challenge the search because they did not own the car and had no possessory interest in it.

Subsequently, during defendant’s trial, the drugs seized in the search were admitted into evidence. Also admitted were a California search warrant and affidavit and a “dope ledger” seized in the California search. The warrant permitted a search of defendant’s California home a week after his arrest in Utah. The affidavit described the activities observed at defendant's house which led to the affiant’s belief that a search of the premises would provide information regarding a major cocaine distribution scheme. During the search, a document containing defendant’s handwriting was seized. At trial, a federal drug enforcement agent testified that the document was a dope ledger indicating the date and number of packages of dope delivered. Defendant was convicted by a jury as charged.

I. STANDING

The first issue raised in this appeal is whether the trial court erred in concluding defendant had no standing to challenge the search of the car.

The starting point for this analysis is Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). In Rakas, the United States Supreme Court held a defendant has standing to challenge a search if he or she can establish a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. In so holding, the Court rejected the earlier standard of “legitimately on the premises” set out in Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960). A defendant “who owns or lawfully possesses or controls property will in all likelihood have a legitimate expectation of privacy” in the property. Rakas, 439 U.S. at 144 n. 12, 99 S.Ct. at 431 n. 12. But a defendant who asserts neither a property nor a possessory interest in the automobile, nor an interest in the property seized, has no legitimate expectation of privacy and thus no standing. Id. at 148, 99 S.Ct. at 432.

The Utah Supreme Court has adopted and applied the Rakas rule. In State v. Valdez, 689 P.2d 1334 (Utah 1984), “[defendant concede[d] that he did not own the car or the attache case [found in the trunk] containing the evidence complained of, and [therefore] failed to show that he had any legitimate expectation of privacy in the effects searched.” Id. at 1335. In State v. Constantino, 732 P.2d 125, 126-27 (Utah 1987), “[defendant presented no testimony that he had driven the car with the permission of the owner or that he had borrowed the car under circumstances that would imply permissive use. Absent claimed right to possession, he could not assert any expectation of privacy in the items seized and had no standing to object to the search.”

The facts in the instant case parallel those in Rakas, Valdez, and Constantino. Defendant denied any ownership in the car and any knowledge of the secret compartment or its illegal contents. The only substantive evidence defendants presented at the suppression hearing was the testimony of the arresting officer that it was his understanding Rafael Villa was using the car with his brother’s permission. No other witnesses were called and no other evidence was presented. It might be argued the officer’s testimony established some expectation of privacy on the part of Villa. That certainly does not establish an expectation of privacy on the part of defendant. In Rakas, the United States Supreme Court held the fact defendants were in the car with the owner “was not determinative of [197]*197whether they had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the particular areas of the car searched.” 439 U.S. at 148, 99 S.Ct. at 433.

In any event, an officer’s belief is irrelevant to the question of a defendant’s expectation of privacy. “[A] defendant’s standing to object should not depend on the state of the officer’s belief as to the defendant’s possessory interest in the vehicle to be searched.” State v. Boutot, 325 A.2d 34, 42 (Me.1974).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Henfling
2020 UT App 129 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2020)
State v. Karr
2015 UT App 287 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2015)
State v. Malaga
2006 UT App 103 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2006)
State v. Smedley
2003 UT App 79 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 2003)
State v. Matison
875 P.2d 584 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1994)
State v. Kolster
869 P.2d 993 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1994)
State v. Scott
860 P.2d 1005 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1993)
State v. Sepulveda
842 P.2d 913 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1992)
State v. Gonzalez
822 P.2d 1214 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1991)
State v. Taylor
818 P.2d 561 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1991)
State v. Cayer
814 P.2d 604 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1991)
State v. Harrison
805 P.2d 769 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1991)
State v. Marshall
791 P.2d 880 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1990)
State v. Johnson
774 P.2d 1141 (Utah Supreme Court, 1989)
State v. Aase
762 P.2d 1113 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1988)
Meyers v. Salt Lake City Corp.
747 P.2d 1058 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1987)
State v. DeAlo
748 P.2d 194 (Court of Appeals of Utah, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
748 P.2d 194, 73 Utah Adv. Rep. 94, 1987 Utah App. LEXIS 611, 1987 WL 25397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-dealo-utahctapp-1987.