State v. Fredette

411 A.2d 65, 1979 Me. LEXIS 822
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine·Decided September 28, 1979·Published·Cited by 64 cases

Opinions

ARCHIBALD, Justice.

On September 8, 1978, Nancy A. Fredette was indicted for the May 26, 1978, murder1 of her husband, Frederick R. Fredette, which allegedly “was committed with the use of a firearm.” That indictment remains untried because of the two interlocutory rulings now under consideration here.

On January 25, 1979, Mrs. Fredette filed two motions to suppress evidence, namely:

1. Evidence of her “personal or family financial transactions or condition” obtained without a search warrant from “banks or other savings institution”; and

2. “All personal and intangible property seized” without a search warrant “from [her] premises located at 55 Birch Street, Biddeford, Maine after 7:34 a. m. on May 26, 1978.”

A justice of the Superior Court ordered:

1. The' State may not use as evidence . records of Defendant’s financial affairs and transactions obtained by the State from banks or other savings institutions .
2. The Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained from a warrantless search of her home is denied.

The State, as authorized by 15 M.R.S.A. § 2115-A (1978 Supp.) and Rule 37A(d), M.R.Crim.P., seasonably appealed from that part of the interlocutory ruling adverse to it, namely, suppressing the defendant’s bank records. The defendant successfully moved for an interlocutory order reporting the denial of her motion to suppress the evidence obtained in the warrantless search of her house. Rule 37A(b), M.R.Crim.P.

We sustain the State’s appeal. We affirm the decision of the justice below in refusing to suppress the evidence obtained in the warrantless search of the defendant’s house.

SUPPRESSION OF FINANCIAL RECORDS

In concluding that the bank records should be suppressed, the justice premised that result on the assumption that “the search and seizure of a Defendant’s records [67] from his bank must be accomplished by the use of appropriate legal process.” Since the State had “failed to present evidence to the court at the hearing” that legal process was used, the justice ordered the evidence suppressed, citing as ultimate authority United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435, 96 S.Ct. 1619, 48 L.Ed.2d 71 (1976) and Burrows v. Superior Court of San Bernardino County, 13 Cal.3d 238, 118 Cal.Rptr. 166, 529 P.2d 590 (1974).2

Miiler, construing the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, flatly holds that a bank depositor has no interest protected by that constitutional amendment that would entitle him to challenge the method by which information revealed by his bank transactions was obtained. In short, “The depositor takes the risk, in revealing his affairs to another [e. g., a bank employee], that the information will be conveyed by that person to the Government.” 425 U.S. at 443, 96 S.Ct. at 1624. Lest it be argued that the legal rule espoused in Miller should be reviewed as no longer viable, we note its recent citation with approval in Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 743, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 2581, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979).

Defendant argues, however, that the right of privacy secured by Article I, Section 53 of the Constitution of Maine mandates the suppression of bank records obtained by the State without legal process. It has been the consistent position of this court not to adopt an exclusionary rule pursuant to our Constitution when the United States Supreme Court has not applied such a rule to the states under the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States. See, e. g., State v. Foisy, Me., 384 A.2d 42, 44 n.2 (1978); State v. Stone, Me., 294 A.2d 683, 693 n.15 (1972); State v. Hawkins, Me., 261 A.2d 255, 258 n.3 (1970).

We see no reason to depart from this established policy.4 Since Mrs. Fredette had no expectation of privacy in her bank records that was constitutionally protected, their revelation to police agencies, whether by subpoena or otherwise, cannot be suppressed. Thus, the presence, or absence, in the record of the hearing below of legal process, defective or otherwise, becomes an improper basis for the suppression of those records. The justice below erroneously ordered the suppression of the defendant’s bank records.

REFUSAL TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE SEIZED IN A WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF DEFENDANT’S HOME

In denying the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence obtained through the war-rantless search of the Fredette residence, the presiding justice declared:

With respect to the search of Defendant’s home, the court believes that Defendant consented to the police investigation of her home. In response to a call from a woman claiming that someone had just shot her husband, police arrived at Defendant’s home and entered without objection from Defendant. In fact, Defendant fully cooperated with all of the investigative efforts of the police. Her conduct throughout conveyed only approval and encouragement of the police in their search. Since the court finds that Defendant consented to the search of her home, it need not reach the further question whether the police could consti[68] tutionally search the home without a warrant.

The presiding justice acts as a finder of fact in preliminary proceedings relating to the admissibility of evidence. His findings will not ordinarily be set aside unless clearly erroneous. See, e. g., State v. Carter, Me., 391 A.2d 344, 346 (1978); State v. McLain, Me., 367 A.2d 213, 217 (1976); State v. Fernald, Me., 248 A.2d 754, 763 (1968).

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State v. Fredette, 411 A.2d 65, 1979 Me. LEXIS 822 (Me. 1979).

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