Waring v. State

670 P.2d 357, 1983 Alas. LEXIS 475
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 9, 1983
Docket5094, 5110
StatusPublished
Cited by64 cases

This text of 670 P.2d 357 (Waring v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Waring v. State, 670 P.2d 357, 1983 Alas. LEXIS 475 (Ala. 1983).

Opinions

OPINION

COMPTON, Justice.

The primary issue in this petition for hearing from the court of appeals is whether Alaska’s exclusionary rule, set forth in Evidence Rule 412, contains a standing requirement for search and seizure violations. We affirm the court of appeals’ holding that Rule 412 contains a standing requirement, but hold that under the Alaska Constitution there are exceptions to this requirement. Accordingly, we remand the case to the superior court to determine whether such exceptions are applicable in this case. We also reverse the court of appeals’ holding that none of the initial actions taken by the State Troopers constituted an unlawful seizure.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

The facts relevant to this petition are as follows.1 On April 30, 1979, at about 1:30 a.m., State Troopers McGinnis and Ochs were traveling down Sheep Creek Road outside Fairbanks when they saw three young men standing next to a parked car in a roadside turnout. Before stopping to investigate, McGinnis called in the license number of the car and ascertained that it was properly registered and not stolen. As the Troopers approached the car, two of the men, G.R. and T.C., both minors, got down underneath the car and appeared to be inspecting it. McGinnis asked the man standing, Randy Robinson,2 whether anything was wrong. Randy replied that they had a problem with the tie rods on the car, but that they did not need assistance.

[359]*359Trooper McGinnis requested and was given identification. He then instructed Randy Robinson to get in the patrol car, where he questioned him for awhile about the identity of the other two and why they were stopped at the roadside turnout. He ran a record check on their identification, which appeared to be correct. While talking to Randy, McGinnis became suspicious that “something was wrong” because the other two men appeared to be whispering to each other and kept looking toward the woods. On a “lucky guess,” McGinnis asked Randy who were the other people that were out in the woods. Randy hesitated and finally said that Brian Waring, the owner of the car, and Scott Robinson were in the woods at their cabin. McGinnis then requested that Randy show him where the cabin was. Before going into the woods with Randy, McGinnis told the other two to stay and wait by the car.

After entering the woods, McGinnis, Ochs and Randy came to a stream. Across the stream, McGinnis saw Appellants Brian Waring and Scott Robinson and saw that one of them was holding a rifle. McGinnis crossed the stream, entered the cabin, and asked Waring and Robinson about the gun. After receiving no helpful information, he went outside and found two .guns hidden out of view about twenty feet from the cabin. He radioed in their serial numbers to headquarters and was told that the guns were stolen. McGinnis then asked Waring and Robinson if they knew the guns were stolen; Waring replied affirmatively, but said that he was keeping them for a friend.

All five men were taken to the police station, arriving about 2:40 a.m., and were then questioned separately. Although the Troopers knew that T.C. and G.R. were minors, the parents were not immediately notified that their children were in custody, which violated Children’s Rule 6(b).

Mr. Bendock, the victim of a recent burglary, arrived at the station about 4:30 a.m. and identified the guns as his. He also brought a knife and lighter that he had found under the window where the burglars had entered his home. When G.R. was shown the items and heard Mr. Bendock’s story, he confessed to the burglary. Upon learning of G.R.’s confession, Waring and Robinson both gave statements. The two that were not involved in the burglary, Randy Robinson and T.C., were released sometime between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. G.R.’s parents were first notified that their son was in custody at about 9:15 a.m.

The three defendants, Waring, Scott Robinson, and G.R., moved to suppress most of the evidence against them; the motions were denied. Waring and Robinson were each convicted of burglary in a dwelling under former AS 11.20.080. G.R. was adjudicated a delinquent minor based on the same offense. In G.R. v. State, 638 P.2d 191 (Alaska App.1981), the court of appeals affirmed Waring’s conviction, but remanded G.R.’s and Robinson’s cases for a determination of whether probable cause existed to arrest them at the time they were taken to the police station.3 Only Waring and Robinson petitioned this court to hear their cases. We granted the petition for hearing to review two holdings by the court of appeals: (1) that the Trooper’s interactions with the three men at the car did not constitute an unlawful seizure; and (2) that Waring cannot have his confession suppressed because he has no standing to assert the violation of his co-defendants' right against an unlawful seizure.

Waring and Robinson argue that Trooper McGinnis’ initial contact with the three men at the car was an unlawful seizure and that all incriminating evidence obtained thereafter should accordingly be suppressed. Waring also argues that because he confessed only after G.R. confessed, and because G.R.’s confession is inadmissible if the superior court on remand finds that there was no probable cause to arrest G.R., his confession must also be suppressed. Underlying both of these arguments is the contention [360]*360that Waring and Robinson have standing to assert the violation of someone else’s constitutional rights.4 Addressing Waring’s and Robinson’s seizure argument, the court of appeals found that the initial police encounter with the three men was not an unlawful seizure; therefore, the court did not discuss the standing issue. G.R. v. State, 638 P.2d at 196. The court discussed standing, however, with respect to Waring’s confession argument and held that Waring did not have standing to assert the violation of his co-defendants’ rights. Id. at 204.

II. STANDING TO ASSERT THE VIOLATION OF A CO-DEFENDANT’S RIGHTS

In reaching its conclusion that Waring did not have standing to assert the violation of a co-defendant’s rights, the court of appeals held that the adoption of Alaska Evidence Rule 412,5 an exclusionary rule, did not abrogate the traditional requirement of standing in search and seizure cases. 638 P.2d at 204. We agree with the reasoning behind this holding.

Evidence Rule 412, which became effective on August 1,1979, superseded Criminal Rule 26(g).6 As we indicated in State v. Sears, 553 P.2d 907 (Alaska 1976), the notes of the Criminal Rules Revision Commission, which drafted Rule 26(g) in 1972, state that Rule 26(g) was proposed “ ‘to make clear that the protections of the Miranda Rule are not eroded.’ ” 553 P.2d at 910.7 There is nothing, however, in these notes or in subsequent case law8 which indicates that Rule 26(g) addressed the standing issue in search and seizure cases.

Evidence Rule 412 did not abolish the standing requirement in search and seizure cases. Although the standing issue is not addressed in the text of the Rule, the Commentary to Rule 412 indicates as much. The Commentary discusses the two exceptions in Rule 412 to the general exclusionary rule, both of which regard the use of illegally obtained evidence in perjury prosecutions. It states, in part:

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Bluebook (online)
670 P.2d 357, 1983 Alas. LEXIS 475, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/waring-v-state-alaska-1983.