State v. Stevens

2007 SD 54, 734 N.W.2d 344, 2007 S.D. LEXIS 91, 2007 WL 1707355
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJune 13, 2007
Docket23898
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 2007 SD 54 (State v. Stevens) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Stevens, 2007 SD 54, 734 N.W.2d 344, 2007 S.D. LEXIS 91, 2007 WL 1707355 (S.D. 2007).

Opinions

KONENKAMP, Justice.

[¶ 1.] Law enforcement officers in Rapid City conducted a trash pull of defendant’s garbage over five months after obtaining information that led them to believe he was committing a crime. After finding evidence of a controlled substance in the trash, the officers obtained a warrant to search defendant’s home. The search revealed more evidence, and defendant was indicted. Defendant moved to suppress the evidence claiming that he had a protected privacy interest in his trash and the officers did not have reasonable suspicion to search it. The circuit court suppressed the evidence. The State appeals, and we reverse.

Background

[¶ 2.] In July 2004, Officer Kraig Wood received information that Wayne Stevens (defendant) had an altercation with Troy Klug, who shortly thereafter went missing. Officer Wood believed that this altercation was related to drugs and to Klug’s disappearance. On July 28, 2004, Officer Wood interviewed defendant about the altercation and his association with Klug. The officer also asked defendant about his association with Troy Tiegen and Cynthia Kindall, who knew Klug through their use and sale of methamphetamine. Defendant admitted to Officer Wood that approximately two weeks earlier he and Klug had a disagreement over $800 that Klug owed him. Defendant, however, denied any involvement in Klug’s disappearance. He also denied knowing Kindall, but admitted to having a limited association with Tiegen. Officer Wood did not investigate defendant any further after the July 28 interview. The missing persons’ investigation on Klug, however, continued.

[¶ 3.] Over five months later, on January 14, 2005, Officer Wood decided to conduct a search of defendant’s trash, which was set out by the curb for collection in front of his residence. The officer told the city-employed garbage collector to empty his trash hopper before picking up defendant’s trash. After defendant’s trash was collected, the officer instructed the employee to drive a few blocks where he would obtain it from the employee. Officer Wood took the trash to a county shop where he and another investigator sorted through it looking for drug-related items. The officers found an empty pen body containing a white substance, which was later determined to be methamphetamine hydrochloride. The officers also found two pieces of mail with defendant’s name and address, thus validating that the trash was collected from his residence.

[¶ 4.] Based on the trash search and the information from the July 28 interview, Officer Wood obtained a warrant to search defendant’s home. During the search, the officers found drug paraphernalia and methamphetamine. Defendant was indicted for possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia. He moved to suppress the evidence alleging [346]*346that Officer Wood had no reasonable suspicion to search his trash. He also claimed that because the trash search lacked reasonable suspicion there was no probable cause to issue the search warrant. The circuit court suppressed the evidence, concluding that (1) defendant had a limited privacy interest in his trash, (2) the officers lacked reasonable suspicion for the trash search, and (3) the search of defendant’s home lacked probable cause.

Standard of Review

[¶ 5.] “ ‘A motion to suppress for an alleged violation of a constitutionally protected right raises a question of law, requiring de novo review.’ ” State v. Hess, 2004 SD 60, ¶ 9, 680 N.W.2d 314, 319 (quoting State v. Herrmann, 2002 SD 119, ¶ 9, 652 N.W.2d 725, 728 (citations omitted)); State v. Tofani, 2006 SD 63, ¶24, 719 N.W.2d 391, 398. Findings of fact are reviewed under the clearly erroneous standard. Tofani, 2006 SD 63, ¶24, 719 N.W.2d at 398. Yet, “the application of a legal standard to those facts” is reviewed de novo. Hess, 2004 SD 60, ¶ 9, 680 N.W.2d at 319 (citing State v. Lamont, 2001 SD 92, ¶ 12, 631 N.W.2d 603, 607 (citation omitted)).

Analysis and Decision

[¶ 6.] In its appeal, the State contends that defendant had no expectation of privacy in the trash searched, based on our holding in State v. Schwartz, 2004 SD 123, ¶ 17, 689 N.W.2d 430, 435-36. The State further asserts that the circumstances here are analogous to those in Schwartz, in that defendant has failed to present sufficient evidence to satisfy the two-part test for recognizing a privacy interest deserving of constitutional protection. See id. Defendant, on the other hand, claims that Schwartz is distinguishable because law enforcement officers here did not have reasonable suspicion before searching his trash, and the citizens of Rapid City would recognize a limited privacy interest in their trash.

[¶ 7.] In Schwartz, we examined whether a privacy interest exists in one’s trash based on the language of the South Dakota Constitution and the United States Constitution. 2004 SD 123, ¶¶ 13-16, 689 N.W.2d at 434-35. We recognized that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article VI, section 11 of our constitution “prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures by government officials.” Id. ¶ 11. However, to implicate these constitutional protections, “[a]n individual must have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched or article seized.... ” State v. Christensen, 2003 SD 64, ¶ 11, 663 N.W.2d 691, 694 (citing Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967)).

[¶ 8.] In Schwartz, we acknowledged that the United States Supreme Court, in California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 39, 108 S.Ct. 1625, 1625, 100 L.Ed.2d 30 (1988), declined to extend constitutional protection to trash unless people manifest “ ‘a subjective expectation of privacy in their garbage that society accepts as objectively reasonable.’” 2004 SD 123, ¶ 14, 689 N.W.2d at 434 (citation omitted). In light of Greenwood and the language of our constitution, this Court also declined “to adopt a blanket rule extending the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures to trash.” Id. ¶ 17. We used a two-part test to determine whether persons had a recognized privacy interest in their searched trash, similar to the test adopted by the United States Supreme Court. Id.; see also Greenwood, 486 U.S. at 39, 108 S.Ct. at 1625, 100 L.Ed.2d 30. To establish a protected privacy interest in trash, a person (1) must have “ ‘exhibited an actual subjective expectation of privacy’ ” and (2) [347]*347society must be “willing to honor this expectation as being reasonable.’ ” Schwartz, 2004 SD 123, ¶ 17, 689 N.W.2d at 435 (quoting Cordell v. Weber, 2003 SD 143, ¶ 12, 673 N.W.2d 49, 53 (quoting State v. Lowther, 434 N.W.2d 747, 754 (S.D.1989) (citation omitted))). In Schwartz, we concluded that the defendants failed to meet both prongs of the test and upheld the search. Id. ¶ 19.

[¶ 9.] Here, the circuit court, in ruling that defendant’s trash was deserving of constitutional protection, interpreted certain language from Schwartz and construed the Rapid City Ordinances related to trash collection to hold that reasonable suspicion must exist before law enforcement officers can conduct a trash search.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2007 SD 54, 734 N.W.2d 344, 2007 S.D. LEXIS 91, 2007 WL 1707355, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-stevens-sd-2007.