United States v. Peters

11 M.J. 901, 1981 CMR LEXIS 658
CourtU S Air Force Court of Military Review
DecidedAugust 28, 1981
DocketACM 23114
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 11 M.J. 901 (United States v. Peters) 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. Peters, 11 M.J. 901, 1981 CMR LEXIS 658 (usafctmilrev 1981).

Opinion

DECISION

MILES, Senior Judge:

Contrary to his pleas, the accused was convicted of wrongful possession of lysergic acid diethylamide, librium, valium and marijuana in violation of Articles 92 and 134,10 U.S.C.A. §§ 892 and 934, Uniform Code of Military Justice. The approved sentence extends to a dishonorable discharge, confinement at hard labor for twenty months, total forfeitures and reduction to airman basic.

Appellate defense counsel contend that a search of the accused’s on-base quarters, though authorized by the base commander, was unlawful. We agree. We find the use of a marijuana detection dog at the accused’s on-base quarters, under the facts of this case, to be a search, in and of itself, and unreasonable as a warrantless search. The marijuana dog’s alert could not support the probable cause necessary for the subsequently issued warrant. Therefore, since the only evidence to support the charges was the fruit of an illegal search, we set aside the findings of guilty and dismiss the charges and specifications.

This issue arose on these facts: At approximately 8:30 in the evening, the accused and his wife were stopped while driving their car onto the Air Force base where they lived. Their car was searched as a part of a random gate inspection. A marijuana detection dog, “Valdez,” assisted in the search. During the search, a bag of suspected marijuana was discovered in the car’s glove compartment. A quantity of unknown pills and suspected marijuana were also found after a strip search of the accused’s wife. Thereafter, the security policeman who apprehended the accused at the gate, Sergeant Steve A. Scott, accompanied by “Valdez,” went to the accused’s on-base quarters; the accused and his wife remained at the security police station. No judicial authorization or consent was obtained for this visit to the quarters. The record suggests no reason to believe there was any contraband in the quarters, other than an apparent “hunch” on the part of Sergeant Scott. Clearly, the record shows the purpose of Sergeant Scott’s visit was to attempt to discover additional evidence to justify a search of the accused’s on-base residence.

At the accused’s house, Sergeant Scott walked “Valdez” past all of the doors and windows of the duplex quarters assigned to the accused. The dog alerted at a front window of the residence. At the time of the alert, “Valdez’s” hind feet were on the ground in the yard and his front paws were on the window sill. The window was open approximately one half inch to one inch. After the marijuana dog alerted, Sergeant Scott contacted the base commander, who authorized a search of the quarters based on both the suspected marijuana found in the accused’s car and “Valdez’s” alert at the quarters. The accused was then brought to his house, and a search followed. The search resulted in the seizure of approximately 112 grams of marijuana and other drugs which formed the basis of the offenses of which the accused was convicted.1

At trial, the defense contended that Sergeant Scott’s actions in taking the dog to the house and then checking all the doors and windows represented a warrantless search without probable cause. The military judge denied a defense motion to suppress, ruling that use of the marijuana dog was not a search because occupants of mili[903]*903tary family housing have no reasonable expectations of privacy in the grounds outside of their assigned quarters.

The precise issue raised by appellate defense counsel concerns the lawfulness of Sergeant Scott’s action with the marijuana dog at accused’s quarters prior to the search thereof. We agree that is the crucial question. If Sergeant Scott’s activities constituted an improper search, thereby infringing on the accused’s constitutional rights, then the subsequent authorization and search must fail and the accused’s conviction must be set aside.

At the outset, we reject the trial court’s sweeping determination that occupants of family housing have no expectation of privacy in the grounds immediately adjacent to their premises even if police and others stand in their yards and peer into their living room or bedroom windows. Any other holding would be inconsistent with the broad scope of the Fourth Amendment.2

“At the very core [of the Fourth Amendment] stands the right of a man to retreat into his home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.” Silverman v. United States, 365 U.S. 505 at 511, 81 S.Ct. 679 at 682, 5 L.Ed.2d 734 (1961). The land immediately adjacent to the home is also entitled to protections against unreasonable search and seizure as well as the home itself. United States v. Anderson, 552 F.2d 1296 (8th Cir. 1977); Brock v. United States, 223 F.2d 681 (5th Cir. 1955). As a United States Court of Appeals noted:

The sacredness of a person’s home and the right of personal privacy and individuality are paramount considerations of our country and are specifically protected by the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment’s protection, however, extends further than just the walls of the physical structure of the home itself. The area immediately surrounding and closely related to the dwelling is also entitled to the Fourth Amendment’s protection. Fixel v. Wainwright, 492 F.2d 480, at 483 (5th Cir. 1974).

We believe the foregoing principle is equally applicable to occupants of military family housing. Cf. United States v. Stuckey, 10 M.J. 347 (C.M.A.1981). Of course, in the application of Fourth Amendment protections to members of the armed forces, exigencies of military necessity and unique conditions that may exist in military society must be taken into account. United States v. Middleton, 10 M.J. 123 (C.M.A. 1981). Because of the nature of military society, the expectations of privacy in the military are considerably different from what might be expected in a civilian community. United States v. Lewis, 11 M.J. 188 (C.M.A.1981); United States v. Middleton, supra; Mil.R.Evid. 313, 314.

Our finding that personnel residing in military family housing have expectations of privacy — at least against the uninvited eye, ear or nose at their windows — does not necessarily resolve this case however.

In establishing the constitutional expectation of privacy as a standard in applying the Fourth Amendment, Justice Stewart of the United States Supreme Court points out:

In the first place, the correct solution to Fourth Amendment problems is not necessarily promoted by incantation of the phrase “constitutionally protected area.” Secondly, the Fourth Amendment can not be translated into a general “constitutional right to privacy.”
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[904]*904For the Fourth Amendment protects people not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection.

Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 350, 351, 88 S.Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
11 M.J. 901, 1981 CMR LEXIS 658, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-peters-usafctmilrev-1981.