State v. Sarantopoulos

604 So. 2d 551, 1992 WL 206397
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 26, 1992
Docket92-00403
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 604 So. 2d 551 (State v. Sarantopoulos) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Sarantopoulos, 604 So. 2d 551, 1992 WL 206397 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

604 So.2d 551 (1992)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
James SARANTOPOULOS, Appellee.

No. 92-00403.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

August 26, 1992.

*552 Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Susan Henderson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, and Elaine L. Thompson, Asst. Atty. Gen., Hollywood, for appellant.

Denis M. deVlaming, Clearwater, for appellee.

PARKER, Judge.

The State of Florida appeals a trial court order which granted a motion to suppress marijuana and diazepam seized pursuant to a search warrant. We reverse, concluding that although James Sarantopoulos manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the curtilage of his home, society is not prepared to recognize his expectation as reasonable. Thus the officers seized the contraband during a lawful search.

The parties provided the following evidence to the trial court at the hearing on the motion to suppress. A detective for the Largo Police Department testified that he received information from a fellow officer that an unidentified individual had contacted the police and informed the police that marijuana was inside James Sarantopoulos's home and marijuana plants were growing in the backyard. The officers went to the residence to verify the information. The residence, a single-family, one-story home, had a backyard surrounded by a six-foot wooden board-on-board fence. The front yard did not have a fence. The officers walked through an adjoining neighbor's unfenced yard without seeking the neighbor's permission. The officers could not see through the fence into Sarantopoulos's backyard. From the neighbor's yard, a detective stood on his tip toes, looked over the fence, and saw several marijuana plants growing in five gallon buckets.[1] The officers used no other devices to view the property nor did they trespass onto Sarantopoulos's property.[2] Based upon their observations and the anonymous tip, the officers obtained a search warrant to search the residence and the backyard.

The trial court, however, suppressed the evidence seized pursuant to this search warrant. In its order granting the motion to suppress the evidence, the trial court made the following findings:

The photographs of the location, the testimony of the officer and the testimony of the defendant regarding the construction, maintenance and location of the fence and the adjacent structures make it clear that Mr. Sarantopoulos had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the subject location. The Court finds *553 law enforcement engaged in "extraordinary efforts" to overcome the defendant's reasonable attempts to maintain the privacy of his curtilage. On the basis of West v. State, 588 So.2d 248 (DCA 1991) [sic] the actions constitute a search.

Since the only other information contained in the affidavit for the search warrant was from an unnamed tipster, the trial court concluded that the search warrant must fail.

We recognize that the area of Sarantopoulos's fenced backyard is clearly within the curtilage of his home[3] and warrants fourth amendment protection. See Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 80 L.Ed.2d 214 (1984). Thus the issue in this case must be resolved pursuant to Article 1, Section 12 of the Constitution of the State of Florida,[4] which should be construed in conformity with the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

A fourth amendment analysis must begin with the two-part inquiry to determine whether a person has a constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy, which the Supreme Court set forth in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). First, has the individual manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged search? Second, is society prepared to recognize that expectation as reasonable? See Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143-44 n. 12, 99 S.Ct. 421, 430 n. 12, 58 L.Ed.2d 387, 401 n. 12 (1978). See also Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 740, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 2580, 61 L.Ed.2d 220, 226-27 (1979).

Clearly, Sarantopoulos with his solid six-foot fence has manifested a subjective expectation of privacy in his backyard. Thus he meets the first prong of the inquiry.

This court, however, must consider the second prong of the inquiry and determine whether society is prepared to recognize his expectation as reasonable. The way society views the actions of Sarantopoulos defines the zone of privacy he may create for protection from searches under the fourth amendment.[5] We conclude that society is not prepared to honor Sarantopoulos's expectation of privacy and that his expectation of privacy, viewed objectively, is unreasonable.

*554 First, Sarantopoulos, by building a solid six-foot fence, has created his zone of privacy from persons in adjoining yards attempting to peer into his yard from six feet or lower. Sarantopoulos has not created a zone of privacy from a neighbor's observations over the fence if that neighbor is seven feet tall. He also has not created a zone of privacy for a person in an adjoining yard standing on a ladder trimming trees or repairing a roof, as the Supreme Court recognized in California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 106 S.Ct. 1809, 90 L.Ed.2d 210 (1986). A property owner reasonably should foresee that neighbors or other persons on the adjoining land may use devices which place those persons in a position to view over a six-foot fence. Further, as Sarantopoulos acknowledges, the Supreme Court has recognized that it would not be an unlawful search for law enforcement to fly over his property and view the backyard, so long as law enforcement does not violate any laws or Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations. See Florida v. Riley, 488 U.S. 445, 109 S.Ct. 693, 102 L.Ed.2d 835 (1989).

The trial court relied on West v. State, 588 So.2d 248 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) in finding that law enforcement's actions constituted a search. We, however, disagree with West[6] and certify conflict.

In West, the First District Court held that a police officer's act of climbing a ladder in a neighbor's yard with the neighbor's permission and peering over a solid wooden fence into a defendant's yard violated the defendant's reasonable expectation of privacy within the curtilage of his home and was therefore a violation of his fourth amendment rights against unreasonable search. West recognized, however, that had the defendant's next door neighbors occupied two-story homes, the defendant's expectation of privacy would not have existed. If this is true, we conclude that the zone of privacy Sarantopoulos has created protects him only from people on adjoining property who remain on the ground and are unable to see over a six-foot fence unaided.

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

Related

JONATHAN OSORIO v. STATE OF FLORIDA
244 So. 3d 1115 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018)
Daniel v. Morris
181 So. 3d 1195 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2015)
Abella v. Simon
831 F. Supp. 2d 1316 (S.D. Florida, 2011)
State v. Kennedy
953 So. 2d 655 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2007)
Pitts Sales, Inc. v. King World Productions, Inc.
383 F. Supp. 2d 1354 (S.D. Florida, 2005)
State v. Cunningham
891 So. 2d 1199 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
State v. Viltz
891 So. 2d 1200 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2005)
State v. Hamilton
660 So. 2d 1038 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1995)
Hamilton v. State
645 So. 2d 555 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1994)
Sarantopoulos v. State
629 So. 2d 121 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1993)
Wysong v. State
614 So. 2d 670 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
604 So. 2d 551, 1992 WL 206397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-sarantopoulos-fladistctapp-1992.