United States v. Perguson

13 M.J. 955, 1982 CMR LEXIS 932
CourtU S Air Force Court of Military Review
DecidedJuly 2, 1982
DocketACM 23376
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 13 M.J. 955 (United States v. Perguson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U S Air Force Court of Military Review primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Perguson, 13 M.J. 955, 1982 CMR LEXIS 932 (usafctmilrev 1982).

Opinions

DECISION

MILLER, Judge:

The accused was convicted of possessing lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), methaqualone, marihuana and hashish, and transferring marihuana, in violation of Articles 92 and 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. §§ 892, 934. His approved sentence consists of a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for one year, and reduction to grade E-1.

Five errors assigned by appellate defense counsel relate to the military judge’s denial of a motion to suppress evidence, after ruling an off-base search to be legal. A sixth, asserts that the identity of the informant, who provided probable cause for the search warrant utilized in that search, should have been revealed to the accused.

Finding that the accused failed in his burden to establish any personal expectation of privacy in the premises searched, we conclude that introduction of the fruits of this search at his trial did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights, regardless of the search’s legality.

The allegedly illegal search was of an off-base apartment. While the accused set forth extensive evidence and argument attempting to demonstrate the illegality of the search, he introduced no evidence whatever that he had any expectation of privacy within that apartment. Despite a written brief that contained a bare allegation that the accused had “standing” to object to the search, the only reference it contained to interests in the apartment searched averred to the fact that a young lady owned and controlled it, not the accused.

The government responded that, if this latter statement were true, the accused was without standing to object to any search of the apartment.

Prior to this motion to suppress, the accused’s defense counsel had implied (pursuant to an earlier motion regarding want of jurisdiction) that the accused lived in the apartment that was searched. The suppression motion brief, itself, however, contained no information regarding any personal ex[956]*956pectation of privacy in that apartment other than a denial of the accused’s ownership or control over it.

In a recent series of cases beginning with Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), the United States Supreme Court has substantially reduced the applicability of the exclusionary rule stemming from Fourth Amendment rights. In Rakas, the Court reaffirmed its earlier principles that: (1) “Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights which, like some other constitutional rights, may not be vicariously asserted,” id. at 134-135, 99 S.Ct. at 425, 58 L.Ed.2d at 394, and (2) “it is proper to permit only defendants whose Fourth Amendment rights have been violated to benefit from the rule’s protections,” id. at 135, 99 S.Ct. at 425, 58 L.Ed. at 395. Then, after analyzing, in light of these principles, the long-standing rule it had created in Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 80 S.Ct. 725, 4 L.Ed.2d 697 (1960), under which criminal defendants charged with drug possession had become automatically entitled to exclude from their trials any evidence derived from illegal searches conducted upon any premises they happened to be legitimately upon at the time of the search, the Court overruled that portion of Jones’, substituting therefore, ad hoc determinations under the facts of particular cases, as to whether specific criminal defendants could legitimately have expected privacy in areas subject to such searches.

Two years after Rakas, in United States v. Salvucci, 448 U.S. 83, 100 S.Ct. 2547, 65 L.Ed.2d 619 (1980) the Court eradicated the last vestige of Jones’ automatic standing rules, with the following language:

Today we hold that defendants charged with crimes of possession may only claim the benefits of the exclusionary rule if their own Fourth Amendment rights have in fact been violated. The automatic standing rule of Jones v. United States, supra, is therefore overruled. [Emphasis added.]

United States v. Salvucci, supra, at 85, 100 S.Ct. at 2549, 65 L.Ed.2d at 623-624.

The Court, after indicating it would no longer permit a defendant’s possession of a seized good to substitute for actual factual findings that such a defendant legitimately expected privacy in the area from which such goods were seized, stated:

As in Rakas, we again reject “blind adherence” to the other underlying assumption in Jones that possession of the seized good is an acceptable measure of Fourth Amendment interests. As in Rakas, we find that the Jones standard “creates too broad a gauge for measurement of Fourth Amendment rights” and that we must instead engage in a “conscientious effort to apply the Fourth Amendment” by asking not merely whether the defendant had a possessory interest in the items seized, but whether he had an expectation of privacy in the area searched. Thus neither prosecutorial “vice,” nor the underlying assumption of Jones that possession of a seized good is the equivalent of Fourth Amendment “standing” to challenge the search can save the automatic standing rule.

Id. at 93-94, 100 S.Ct. at 2553, 65 L.Ed.2d at 629.

Significantly, following Rakas but prior to Salvucci, the Court set forth two discrete questions that normally must be answered positively before a defendant can claim a “justifiable,” a “reasonable,” or a “legitimate” expectation of privacy. In Smith v. Maryland, 442 U.S. 735, 99 S.Ct. 2577, 61 L.Ed.2d 220 (1979), embracing the language of Mr. Justice Harlan’s concurrence in Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967) this two pronged test was identified as:

The first [question] is whether the individual, by his conduct, has “exhibited an actual (subjective) expectation of privacy,” 389 U.S., at 361 [88 S.Ct., at 516],—whether, in the words of the Katz majority, the individual has shown that “he seeks to preserve [something] as private.” Id., at 351 [88 S.Ct., at 511]. The second question is whether the individual’s subjective expectation of privacy is “one that society is prepared to recognize as ‘reasonable,’ ” id. at 361, [88 S.Ct., at 516],-[957]*957whether, in the words of the Katz majority, the individual’s expectation, viewed objectively, is “justifiable” under the circumstances. Id., at 353 [88 S.Ct. at 512]. [Footnote omitted.]

Smith v. Maryland, supra, 442 U.S. at 741, 99 S.Ct. at 2580, 61 L.Ed.2d at 220-227.

The Supreme Court has placed the burden of establishing a claim of “justifiable” or “legitimate expectation of privacy” pursuant to this two-pronged test directly upon the party asserting the claim; to wit: the defendant. Quoting from its opinion in Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 100 S.Ct.

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

Related

United States v. Phillips
38 M.J. 593 (U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Military Review, 1993)
United States v. Guillen
14 M.J. 518 (U S Air Force Court of Military Review, 1982)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 M.J. 955, 1982 CMR LEXIS 932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-perguson-usafctmilrev-1982.