State v. Francisco

790 S.W.2d 543, 1989 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 788
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedNovember 14, 1989
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 790 S.W.2d 543 (State v. Francisco) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Francisco, 790 S.W.2d 543, 1989 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 788 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

REID, Judge.

This case presents an appeal as of right from the misdemeanor conviction of posses[544]*544sion of a controlled substance, T.C.A. § 39-6-417(b).

The appellant, David Francisco, assigns for review the denial of a motion to suppress evidence, the sufficiency of the evidence, jury instructions and the sentence.

The record does not show reversible error and the sentence is appropriate.

MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE

The appellant, at the time of the offense, was a narcotics detective on the Hamilton County Sheriffs department. A Fort Oglethorpe police officer told the appellant’s supervisor that he had information from an informant, previously found to be reliable, that the appellant (described by the informant as David Francisco, a Chattanooga police officer) was delivering cocaine approximately twice a week to a particular place of business in Fort Oglethorpe and information from another informant that the named business was engaged in the illicit drug trade.

Department officers, without the appellant’s knowledge and using a set of keys retained by the department, searched the department vehicle assigned exclusively to the appellant and found in a briefcase, locked in the vehicle and used by appellant in his work, a substance suspected of being cocaine. Without being told of the search, the appellant was asked by his supervisor if he had any drugs used or obtained in the course of his duties to be delivered to the department. The appellant surrendered a quantity of marijuana, packaged and marked as evidence. He stated he had possession of no other drugs.

His supervisor then told him the department had information that he was selling cocaine and asked to search the vehicle. The appellant agreed and executed a written “consent search” form. The appellant opened the doors and trunk of the vehicle, removed his briefcase from the trunk and, upon instruction by the chief of police who was observing the search, laid the briefcase on the hood of the vehicle. The incriminating evidence, a quantity of cocaine, was found in the briefcase.

Filed in the record is a copy of Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department Policy and Procedure Manual, a portion of which states:

M.003 To avoid claims of privacy expectations this rule is established to safeguard the proper use and control of departmental property.
(a) Members and employees of the Sheriff Department may be assigned departmentally owned vehicles, lockers, desks, cabinets and cases for the mutual convenience of the department and it’s personnel. All personnel are admonished that the retention of personal items in such containers or facilities is at the risk of the employee and the department will not be responsible for any losses. Such equipment is subject to entry and inspection without notice, even if the employee has placed a personally owned lock on the department property.
The above regulation also includes all departmental vehicles, which may be individually assigned (reference is also made on Section M.018 of this manual regarding the search and inspection of vehicles.)
M.018 Search and inspection of Departmental vehicles (to avoid claims of privacy expections) the following is established to assure proper maintenance, use and care of Departmental vehicles.
DEPARTMENTAL VEHICLES: to include all enclosed containers, regardless of whom assigned or where parked, all departmental vehicles shall be subject to search and inspection by the Sheriff or his designated representative at anytime, day or night. Use of an assigned vehicle shall be restricted, and, the Sheriff may, at anytime, remove from the employee the vehicle or rotate assignment of any unit. (Underlining appears in record).

The trial court refused to suppress the evidence on the grounds that the appellant “agreed contractually” to the searches, both searches were legally authorized by department regulations and the appellant had “no expectation of privacy” in the property searched. The court also held the second search was valid because the appel[545]*545lant consented and the consent “cured any constitutional deficiency” in the first search.

The proof shows the searches were incident to the investigation of work-related misconduct. “Searches and seizures by government employers or supervisors of the private property of their employees ... are subject to the restraints of the Fourth Amendment.” O’Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709, 107 S.Ct. 1492, 1497, 94 L.Ed.2d 714 (1987). This constitutional restraint is applicable to the vehicle owned by the county but assigned to the appellant for his exclusive use. Gillard v. Schmidt, 579 F.2d 825 (3d Cir.1978); United States v. Speights, 557 F.2d 362 (3d Cir.1977). However, the appellant can claim Fourth Amendment protection only if he held a reasonable expectation of privacy in the objects of the search. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). A constitutionally justified expectation of privacy has two requirements: “first that a person have exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy and, second, that the expectation be one that society is prepared to recognize as ‘reasonable’.” Katz v. United States, 88 S.Ct. at 516, (Harlan, J., concurring).

The proof in this case demonstrates that the appellant had no expectation of privacy. The stated purpose of the department regulation is “to avoid claims of privacy expectations” and the regulation provides “[s]uch equipment [vehicles, lockers, desks, cabinets and cases and personal items therein] is subject to entry and inspection without notice.” Appellant’s lack of expectation of privacy was confirmed by his acquiescence in the second search of the vehicle and briefcase, without any knowledge of the first search.

Since the validity of the search is resolved upon a finding that there was no expectation of privacy, there can be no consideration of the other prong of the test, whether, on balance, the expectation was reasonable. See Lovvorn v. City of Chattanooga, Tenn., 846 F.2d 1539 (6th Cir.1988), Sec. and Law Enforcement Emp., Dist. C. 82 v. Carey, 737 F.2d 187 (2d Cir.1984). For the same reason, discussion of the other grounds on which the trial court held the search valid is pretermitted.

SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE

The appellant’s possession of cocaine is not disputed. He contends the possession was incident to the performance of his duties as a police officer and was lawful pursuant to T.C.A. § 53-11-410. He says he met the burden of proving the possession was lawful. See Loveday v. State,

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State v. Blackmon
78 S.W.3d 322 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 2001)
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909 S.W.2d 454 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
790 S.W.2d 543, 1989 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-francisco-tenncrimapp-1989.