State v. Jennette

706 S.W.2d 614

Opinions

OPINION

HARBISON, Justice.

In this case appellees pled guilty to a charge of manufacturing marijuana for resale. In connection with their guilty plea they undertook to reserve, with the consent of the trial court, questions of law for review on appeal pursuant to Rule 37(b)(2)(iv), Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure.

That rule permits an appeal from a conviction on a guilty plea if:

“[djefendant explicitly reserved with the consent of the court the right to appeal a certified question-of law that is dispositive of the case.”

Nowhere in the order of the trial court is a dispositive certified question stated, nor does the same appear in a written motion to suppress filed by appellees. Instead, at the suppression hearing counsel for appel-lees stated that there were “several issues” involved in the case including “a whole range of Fourth Amendment questions and Article I, Sec. 7 questions of the Tennessee Constitution....”

In the Court of Criminal Appeals and in this Court appellees have sought to raise a large number of questions involving the broad field of search and seizure without any specification or certification from the trial court and without demonstrating how most of these questions could be dispositive of the case.

Apparently the State raised no objection to the procedure followed, and the Court of Criminal Appeals accepted the case for review. It resolved most of the questions against appellees, but sustained their position on one issue. The Court of Criminal Appeals then dismissed the charges in their entirety, despite the fact that this single issue could not have been dispositive under the facts and circumstances of the case.

Finding error both in the procedure involved and on the issue which the Court of Criminal Appeals decided for appellees, we reverse and reinstate the judgment of the trial court.

A. Factual and Procedural Background

State and local police officials conducted a helicopter search for growing crops of marijuana in Cheatham County on September 1, 1981. They flew over a 25-acre tract owned by appellees in a rural section of the county. They did not know the boundaries of the tract, the names of the owners, or whether a house seen in the area was or was not located on the tract where two small but widely separated patches of marijuana were observed. They radioed the local sheriff who went to the area with other officers and entered the premises without a warrant. The helicopter personnel landed nearby and were also transported to the scene. At the suppression hearing appellees testified that they owned the 25-acre tract and that the house situated thereon was their residence. They confirmed the testimony of the officers that marijuana was in fact growing on their property in the areas observed from the air. Neither patch was sufficiently close to the residence to be claimed a part of the “curtilage”. Appellees contend that neither patch could have been seen or observed from the ground by officers standing or driving at the boundary of their property.

There were two entrances to the property, although this fact was not known to the officers. The one which they used was a back entrance, not regularly used by appel-lees. It was posted with “No Trespassing” signs and blocked by a cable. The officers walked from this entrance for several hundred yards to the house and then went to the marijuana patches.

From the air, no one had been observed where the marijuana was situated, and the two patches together contained only twenty-six stalks of the material. These were large stalks, from eight to twelve feet high, sixteen in one patch and ten in the other. Mrs. Jennette and her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter were in the house, and later Mrs. Jennette was seen carrying some marijuana past one of the windows. The officers thereupon entered the house and searched it. Appellees, however, have not raised any separate question concerning this entry and search. We do not attempt to deal with it, because suppression of the brief testimony concerning marijuana found in the residence could not in any sense be dispositive of this case under Rule 37, T.R. Crim.P.

The local sheriff testified that he visited both patches of marijuana. He stated as follows:

“And see, when we got down in the hollow, it was a small amount of marijuana looked like it had been pulled off that morning and dropped right at the end of the field.”

The officers pulled the remaining marijuana plants and transported them off the premises on vehicles which they drove under the cable suspended across the drive through which they had entered. They destroyed the crop that evening, preserving only a small sample of it. Although the motion to suppress was couched in terms of suppressing the evidence seized, obviously its thrust was to suppress the testimony of the officers about the entire transaction as well as to suppress the small quantity which had been preserved but which was not, insofar as we can tell from the record, exhibited at the suppression hearing.

The motion to suppress was stated in general terms, alleging an improper war-rantless search under the state and federal constitutions. The suppression hearing consisted of the filing of a transcript of a preliminary hearing held on December 3, 1981 and of testimony adduced from appel-lees on October 11, 1982.

In November, 1981 the Court of Criminal Appeals rendered its opinion in the case of State v. Roode, upholding the seizure of marijuana observed from a helicopter overflight. This Court granted permission to appeal by the defendant. On February 11, 1982, counsel for appellees filed a motion in the present case to stay the proceedings because of the pending appeal in the Roode case, stating in the motion that the instant case “raises identical legal questions.” He sought to have the trial court stay the present case until it might “have the benefit of the Supreme Court opinion in the case of State v. Peter Roode_”

This Court rendered its decision in the Roode case on November 22, 1982. See State v. Roode, 643 S.W.2d 651 (Tenn.1982). The Court held, as had the Court of Criminal Appeals, that there was no search involved in a lawful aerial overflight, so that there were no Fourth Amendment questions presented with reference to observations made by officers conducting such activity. Similarly there are no such questions raised under the comparable state constitutional provisions.

Although he ruled on the suppression motion prior to this Court’s decision in Roode, the trial judge held that there was no search involved insofar as the testimony of the officers concerning the overflight was concerned. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed.

That should have ended the case. If the testimony of the officers concerning the overflight could not have been suppressed, it alone was sufficient to convict the appel-lees. Only if appellees could have suppressed all testimony about both the overflight and the subsequent entry could any question “dispositive of the case” under Rule 37 have been presented. Since the Court of Criminal Appeals agreed! that there was no unlawful search in connection with the overflight, no other proper Rule 37 issue was before it. However, appellees undertook to raise a series of issues in the Court of Criminal Appeals and have pursued most of them here. In the Court of Criminal Appeals they questioned the authority of officers of the Tennessee Highway Patrol to enforce the drug control statutes, argued that the Roode case, supra, had been erroneously decided by this Court and sought its overruling or modification, sought guidelines concerning limits on the right of overflight and finally complained of the warrantless entry upon their property by the officers after the aerial observation. Most of those same issues have been pursued in this Court. As stated, none of them could be dispositive, except suppression of the entire evidence, and that would involve the overruling of the Roode case. We have no disposition to disturb that holding but reaffirm it. Nothing in the record in the present case suggests anything illegal or improper about the helicopter observation or the manner in which it was conducted. Accordingly, since the motion to suppress must have failed, at least in part, the judgment of the trial court should have been sustained under Rule 37.

The Court of Criminal Appeals did not do so, however, but went further to hold that even though the initial observation of the marijuana was lawful and proper, still the later entry upon appellees’ property without a warrant was improper conduct by the officers. The Court of Criminal Appeals accordingly reversed the judgment of the trial court and dismissed the indictment. In doing so, we are of the opinion that the Court of Criminal Appeals improperly applied Rule 37, T.R.Crim.P.

It is possible for there to be more than one certified question under Rule 37, but any question sought to be presented under that rule, following conviction on a guilty plea, should (1) be precisely stated in the order of the trial court certifying the question and (2) be dispositive of the case if the trial court is in error. The rule was never designed to authorize a general review of numerous factual and legal issues without express articulation and without these being completely controlling.

Because the State did not object and because the Court of Criminal Appeals accepted the appeal in the posture presented, we feel it appropriate to deal with the issue which that Court did decide in favor of appellees, although, as stated, it is not and could not be dispositive of the charges.

B. The Warrantless Entry

Appellees have insisted that entry upon their property, despite lawful observation of contraband growing thereon, was improper under the state and federal constitutions since the officers did not obtain a warrant and since there were no “exigent circumstances” shown in the proof. The Court of Criminal Appeals agreed with this contention. We reverse.

While not necessary to our decision, we point out that the circumstances may have been considerably more “exigent” than ap-pellees contend. It is their insistence that the officers should have paused at their boundaries and have sent personnel back to Ashland City, the county seat, a short distance away, to obtain a warrant before entering their property. The sheriff testified, however, that at a minimum it would have taken about two hours to have the necessary affidavit prepared and the warrant issued. As stated previously, although there is some conflict on the point, appellees have insisted throughout that the officers could not observe either patch of marijuana from the ground. Some of the marijuana had already been pulled up before the officers arrived. The helicopter, of course, created a great deal of noise, which was heard not only by Mrs. Jennette but by neighbors in the vicinity. It was short of fuel and had to land before officers on the ground entered to seize the marijuana. The helicopter personnel returned to the scene by automobile and then directed the other officers to the area where the marijuana was growing. Whether Mrs. Jennette had gone to the patch earlier or during this interval and attempted to pull up some of the marijuana before the officers arrived cannot be determined from this record. Some of the officers involved in the incident, however, had had a similar experience in the recent past, when they had attempted to obtain a warrant after an aerial observation of marijuana. When they arrived at the scene with their warrant, all traces of the marijuana had been destroyed. Appellees argue that Mrs. Jennette and her daughter could not possibly have destroyed all of the marijuana involved in the present case, but, as previously stated, there were only sixteen plants. At least some of these had been pulled up just before the officers did arrive.

While both courts below have found that there were no “exigent circumstances,” we think that this is, to say the least, a very close question and a contrary decision could very easily be reached on the facts. Appellees concede that officers may enter premises without a warrant when property owners have been alerted to their presence and there is a reasonable likelihood that evidence may be destroyed if the officers have to interrupt their investigation to obtain a warrant. While the obtaining of a warrant is not an insurmountable task, it is time-consuming, particularly where, as here, the officers do not know the names of the occupants, the boundaries of the property, cannot see the contraband from the ground and do not know whether or not the house located on the property is or is not part of the premises where the marijuana is growing. It seems to us from this record that there might have been considerable difficulty in obtaining a valid warrant without appreciable risk of the evidence being destroyed.

It is only unreasonable searches and seizures that are prohibited by the state or federal constitutions. Despite the heavy judicial gloss on the provisions of both instruments, reasonableness of the conduct of investigating officials in light of all the surrounding circumstances has to be the touchstone of whether or not evidence concerning a particular seizure should be suppressed in furtherance of the exclusionary rule.

Appellees insist, and the Court of Criminal Appeals held, that the facts of the Roode case, supra, could be distinguished from the present case because there the officers entered premises where marijuana was found and seized it but at the same time observed persons in the fields. This Court did not rest its decision on the presence of “exigent circumstances”. It held that the growing of marijuana in the quantity present in that case was a felony under existing statutes and said:

“Having observed a felony being committed, the officers were justified in descending to the ground to arrest appellant and others on the premises engaged in growing and processing the marijuana and in seizing the contraband.” 643 S.W.2d at 654.

The Court did speak of the lack of opportunity to obtain a warrant. It said:

“Issue is made by appellant of the fact that Lt. Dover did not attempt to secure a search warrant before returning to and landing on appellant’s farm. Appellant insists that Lt. Dover had time¹ within which to get a warrant and that he could have had local officers secure the roads leading to the farm for the time it would take him to secure the warrant. These arguments overlook the fact that after the aerial observation, Lt. Dover was unable to locate the farm on the ground with the particularity needed for a search warrant. Neither was he able to pinpoint the location of the farm with sufficient particularity to direct officers on the ground to the farm. In short, no realistic opportunity existed for Lt. Dover to secure a search warrant before returning to the farm. Dover’s only alternative under the circumstances was to again locate the farm from the air. This he undertook to do. On arriving at the farm, he and the other officers in the helicopter saw the fields of marijuana under cultivation, and also saw men running from the fields.” 643 S.W.2d at 653-654.

Since the fields in the present case were empty, appellees insist that it would have been a simple thing for the officers to obtain a warrant. As already indicated, we do not believe that it would have been as simple or practical as appellees insist. We have already indicated that appellees at one time represented to the trial court that the issues in the present case were the same as those in Roode, and to a substantial extent we are of the opinion that Roode controls the present case. Appellees have sought both in the Court of Criminal Appeals and in this Court to have that decision overruled or modified. Certainly this was one of the principal thrusts of their attempt to appeal under Rule 37.

Nevertheless, assuming that the fields were open and unattended and that there was no probability of destruction of the evidence during the delay attendant upon obtaining a warrant, we are of the opinion that no warrant was necessary to justify the entry of the officers in this case and the seizure of the contraband immediately following lawful observation thereof by a proper aerial overflight.

This was not a case where the officers had a tip or information from a third party. They had actually seen marijuana growing in the fields by their own observation of it, at a time and from a place where they had a lawful right to be. This markedly distinguishes this case from previous decisions in this state and the distinction, in our opinion, is a controlling one.

As held by this Court in Fuqua v. Armour, 543 S.W.2d 64, 68 (Tenn.1976) contraband possessed in violation of the State’s drug control statutes is subject to seizure and forfeiture even if the conduct of police officers violates constitutional rights of those in possession. Police officers and other narcotics enforcement officials have broad authority to seize without process controlled substances possessed in violation of the statutes. T.C.A. § 53-11-409(a). These materials are expressly made subject to forfeiture and may be seized without process if an officer “has probable cause to believe that the property was used or is intended to be used” in violation of the statutes. T.C.A. § 53-11-409(b)(4). Illegal controlled substances are not subject to replevin but are deemed to be in the custody of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. Generally they are subject to seizure and summary forfeiture. T.C.A. § 53-ll-409(d).

Of course, these statutes may not and do not permit the violation of constitutionally protected interests of citizens. The exclusionary rule, long observed in this state, does not prevent an unlawful seizure but may prevent officers from introducing into evidence wrongfully seized materials or from testifying about its discovery or seizure.

Appellees base their motion to suppress in part upon the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. About two weeks before the Court of Criminal Appeals rendered its decision in the present case, however, the Supreme Court of the United States released its decision in Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 80 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984). In that case the Supreme Court reaffirmed the “open fields” doctrine first announced in Hester v. United States, 265 U.S. 57, 44 S.Ct. 445, 68 L.Ed. 898 (1924). The Court by a six-to-three majority held very firmly and decisively that officers do not need a warrant to enter and may search open fields without a warrant. In that case and in a companion case, Maine v. Thornton, there had been no overflight whatever, and the officers simply entered private property from the ground and seized contraband growing thereon. The Supreme Court held in that case that there can be no legitimate expectation of privacy on the part of persons conducting activities in open fields.

Speaking of the Fourth Amendment, the Court said:

“The Amendment reflects the recognition of the Founders that certain enclaves should be free from arbitrary government interference. For example, the Court since the enactment of the Fourth Amendment has stressed ‘the overriding respect for the sanctity of the home that has been imbedded in our traditions since the origins of the Republic.’ [Citations omitted].

“In contrast, open fields do not provide the setting for those intimate activities that the Amendment is intended to shelter from government interference or surveillance. There is no societal interest in protecting the privacy of those activities, such as the cultivation of crops, that occur in open fields. Moreover, as a practical matter these lands usually are accessible to the public and the police in ways that a home, an office or commercial structure would not be. It is not generally true that fences or no trespassing signs effectively bar the public from viewing open fields in rural areas. And both petitioner Oliver and respondent Thornton concede that the public and police lawfully may survey lands from the air. For these reasons, the asserted expectation of privacy in open fields is not an expectation that ‘society recognizes as reasonable.’ ” 104 S.Ct. at 1741 (emphasis added).

In a footnote to the italicized sentence above, the Court said:

“In practical terms, petitioner Oliver’s and respondent Thornton’s analysis merely would require law enforcement officers, in most situations, to use aerial surveillance to gather the information necessary to obtain a warrant or to justify warrantless entry onto the property. It is not easy to see how such a requirement would advance legitimate privacy interests.” 104 S.Ct. at 1741 (emphasis added).

In view of this holding, in our opinion there can be no question but that the motion to suppress in the present case fails entirely under the Fourth Amendment. The entry of the officers, even without aerial surveillance, would not have violated that Amendment in this case, because there is no question but that the patches of marijuana were found in open fields. There is not shown to have been any farming operation conducted on the premises, and there are no maps or photographs of the areas in which the marijuana was found. We cannot determine from this record that the lands were “wild or wastelands” within the meaning of earlier Tennessee cases, but at the very minimum the marijuana in this case was being grown in open areas from which it had been lawfully observed from the air.

If the motion to suppress can be sustained even in part, therefore, the decision must rest .upon state, rather than federal, constitutional principles. Appellees have insisted and the Court of Criminal Appeals held that the decision of this Court in State v. Lakin, 588 S.W.2d 544 (Tenn.1979) is controlling and that under the principles stated in that case testimony of the officers about their entry upon appellees’ property should have been suppressed.

We are unable to agree with that contention. It is true that in the Lakin case the Court made the following statement:

“Ordinarily officers searching occupied, fenced, private property must first obtain consent or a warrant; otherwise they proceed at the risk that evidence obtained may be suppressed. When a warrantless search is challenged, an exception to the search warrant requirement must be shown.” 588 S.W.2d at 549.

Language in that case, however, like that of any other appellate opinion, must be analyzed in light of the facts before the Court. In that case officers had entered fenced private property without a warrant and with no knowledge as to whether the property actually contained contraband of any kind. They had been given a tip that the property might contain (1) a moonshine still or (2) a marijuana patch. The officers did not know this from their own knowledge or observation, and there had been no previous surveillance, aerial or otherwise.

It was under those circumstances that this Court held that officers could not enter such property and conduct thereon an investigative search to try to find contraband, the existence of which was not known to them.

We recognize that in the Oliver case, supra, the United States Supreme Court held that such an entry was not violative of the Fourth Amendment and that, to that extent, Lakin may be contrary to the Oliver decision. Nevertheless, in the present case there was a lawful surveillance and overflight. The officers had personal firsthand knowledge, later confirmed by appel-lees themselves, that contraband was growing on the property of appellees, not within the curtilage of their residence. Under these circumstances in our opinion the officers were entitled to enter without a warrant and to seize that contraband.

We do not find it necessary in this decision to overrule the Lakin case, because it simply presented facts different from those here. It was recognized in that decision that the Tennessee cases have been somewhat more restrictive in construing Article I, § 7, of the State Constitution than have federal cases construing the Fourth Amendment. Nevertheless it was recognized in that case that ordinarily the two constitutions should be construed alike where possible. See 588 S.W.2d at 549; see also Sneed v. State, 221 Tenn. 6, 13, 423 S.W.2d 857, 860 (1968).

In the present case we are of the opinion that we should follow the lead of the Supreme Court of the United States at least to the extent of holding that no warrant is necessary to enter upon open farmland where officers have lawfully observed contraband growing thereon, either from an aerial overflight or from lawful ground observation. We agree with the Supreme Court of the United States that no individual can have a legitimate expectation of privacy under those circumstances, and that it would be both impractical and unrealistic to require officers to cease their activity while obtaining a warrant. In our opinion a warrant requirement under such circumstances would in no sense further the exclusionary rule of evidence, the purpose of which is to deter or discourage unreasonable police conduct.

Courts in several other cases have made no distinction between lawful aerial overflight and subsequent entry upon open farm property. On facts practically identical to those here, and in reliance upon Oliver, supra, entry and seizure after lawful aerial observation were sustained without a warrant in United States v. Hoskins, 735 F.2d 1006 (6th Cir.1984) and in Wellford v. Commonwealth, 227 Va. 297, 315 S.E.2d 235 (1984).

On the merits, therefore, as well as on the procedure, we are of the opinion that the Court of Criminal Appeals was in error in partially sustaining the motion to suppress. Its judgment is reversed and that of the trial court is reinstated at the cost of appellees. The cause will be remanded to the trial court for entry of any further orders and for any further proceedings which may be necessary.

COOPER, C.J., and FONES, J. concur. BROCK and DROWOTA, JJ„ file dissents.

1 . Many of these earliest cases involve Prohibition, and thus the only distinction for our purposes is the type of contraband seized (illegal whiskey rather than marijuana), but otherwise the cases present themselves in a variety of factual settings that bear little upon the conclusions of those courts that a warrant is generally required to search private, occupied lands.