84 Hawai'i 462, State v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 31 March 1997
• Docket Number: No. 18411,18411
• Citation: 84 Hawaii 462,935 P.2d 1007
• Parties: 84 Hawai'i 462 STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William David ANDERSON, Jr., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Hawaii Supreme Court

Page 1007

935 P.2d 1007

84 Hawai'i 462

STATE of Hawai'i, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. William David ANDERSON, Jr., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 18411.

Supreme Court of Hawai'i.

March 31, 1997.

[84 Hawai'i 463] Mark R. Simonds, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, on the briefs, Wailuku, for plaintiff-appellant.

Keith E. Tanaka, on the briefs, Wailuku, for defendant-appellee.

MOON, C.J., and KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA and RAMIL, JJ.

NAKAYAMA, Justice.

Plaintiff-appellant State of Hawai'i (the prosecution) appeals from a pretrial court order suppressing contraband seized by police officers while searching a bedroom allegedly belonging to defendant-appellee William David Anderson, Jr., (Anderson). Based on the seized contraband, the prosecution charged Anderson with promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree in violation of Hawai'i Revised Statutes (HRS) § 712-1243(1) (1993), ¹ prohibited acts related to drug paraphernalia in violation of HRS § 329-43.5(a) (1993), ² felon in possession of a firearm in violation of HRS § 134-7(b) (1993), ³ and felon in possession of ammunition

[84 Hawai'i 464] in violation of 134-7(b). The prosecution contends that the circuit court erred by concluding, among other things, that the police officers' warrant to search the dwelling did not authorize the search of Anderson's alleged bedroom. For the reasons stated below, we agree with the prosecution, and, thus, we vacate the circuit court's order and remand to the circuit court for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

On March 18, 1994, Anderson was indicted for promoting a dangerous drug in the third degree, prohibited acts related to drug paraphernalia, felon in possession of a firearm, and felon in possession of ammunition. On June 30, 1994, the circuit court granted Anderson's motion for disclosure of the affidavit that police officers had presented in order to obtain a warrant allowing them to search "within the premises, located at 2253 Mokuhau Road, Wailuku, Maui[.]" The affiant, Police Officer George Kronoski (Officer Kronoski) of the Maui County Police Department (MPD), made the following statements in his affidavit on December 8, 1993:

That Affiant is and has been a member of the Maui County Police Department since 1984 and is presently assigned to the Vice Division;

That Affiant has been assigned and is investigating the alleged offenses of Promoting a Dangerous Drug in violation of Chapter 712 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes and Prohibited Acts Related to Drug Paraphernalia in Violation of Chapter 329 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes at and within the following premises: located at 2253 Mokuhau Road, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii; Tax Map Key No. 3-4-35-40: described as being a single story wooden/cement structure, having a single carport attached to the Waihee side of the residence, structure has a red colored corrugated metal roof, and the structure is a yellow/orange color having light green colored trim. There are the numerals 2253 attached to the post of the carport facing the Waihee direction, the numerals are black in color. The front door of the residence faces the Waihee direction. There is a walkway which leads to the middle portion of the dwelling and has another entrance to another portion of the dwelling which is connected by the same roof and is part of the entire structure. The walkway faces the Iao Valley direction. The residence has a driveway leading from Mokuhau Road, to the residence. There are several other separate dwellings located on the same premises which are not subject to this investigation.

The above described structure is believed to be the residence of two male parties known only as "Abe" and "Barney."

On December 8, 1993, a district court judge issued a search warrant that included, among other things, the following information:

Proof by affidavit having been made before me this 08th day of December 1993, by OFFICER George KRONOSKI, of the Maui County Police Department. that he has reason to believe that there is sufficient probable cause for me to direct that a search be made within the premises, located at 2253 Mokuhau Road, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, Tax Map Key No. 3-4-35-40: described as being a single story wooden/cement structure, having a single carport attached to the Waihee side of the residence, structure has a red colored corrugated metal roof, and the structure is a yellow/orange color having light green colored trim. There are the numerals 2253 attached to the post of the carport facing the Waihee direction, the numerals are black in color. The front door of the residence faces the Waihee direction. There is a walkway which leads to the middle portion of the dwelling, which is connected by the same roof and is part of the entire structure. The walkway faces the Iao Valley direction. The residence has a driveway leading from Mokuhau Road, to the residence. There are several other separate dwellings located on the same premises that are not subject to this investigation.

The above described structure is believed to be the residence of two male parties known only as "Abe" and "Barney." ⁴

After carrying out their search, police officers learned that the name of the first man, known as "Abe," was Avelino Villon, and the name of the second man, known as "Barney," was Bayani Gamit. According to the record, a third person also lived in the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road, named Benito Gamit, who claimed that he was the landlord.

On December 8, 1993, at about 7:55 p.m., approximately nine police officers executed the search warrant by splitting into two teams and entering the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road through the two entrances at the front and side of the dwelling. At a hearing on Anderson's motion to suppress evidence, Police Officer John Kaupulolo (Officer Kaupulolo) recalled that, at the time police officers searched the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road, all the rooms were under a common roof, including Anderson's bedroom, and as one looked at the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road "from the outside it look[ed] as one dwelling."

After entering the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road through the two entrances, police officers came upon a locked bedroom in which they found Anderson. When the police officers announced their presence with the search warrant, Anderson unlocked and opened the bedroom door, and police officers entered the bedroom, where they discovered the contraband. Officer Kaupulolo testified that the contraband recovered from the bedroom included "a small clear plastic ziploc [sic] packet containing white powdery substance believed to be cocaine, homemade aluminum pipe and also a .357 magnum revolver, along with ammunition."

During Anderson's cross-examination of Officer Kaupulolo at the suppression hearing, the following exchange took place:

[Counsel for Anderson]: Did you also talk to the landlord of this dwelling?

[Officer Kaupulolo]: Yes.

[Counsel for Anderson]: That was Benito Gamit?

[Officer Kaupulolo]: Yes, sir.

[Counsel for Anderson]: Did he inform you that William Anderson was renting a room there?

[Officer Kaupulolo]: Yes.

[Counsel for Anderson]: That he had been renting a room for about a year paying $100.00 per month?

[Officer Kaupulolo]: Yes.

However, the record does not indicate exactly when Benito Gamit told Officer Kaupulolo about the landlord-tenant relationship between Anderson and himself. Benito Gamit could have made this statement before, during, or after the police officers' execution of the search warrant.

As stated, the prosecution indicted Anderson for various offenses based on the contraband that police officers seized in Anderson's bedroom. When Anderson subsequently filed his motion to suppress the contraband from evidence, he contended that, because the door to his rented bedroom had been locked at the time of the search and seizure, his bedroom constituted a residential unit that was separate and distinct from the rest of the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road, and, thus, under the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 7 of the Hawai'i Constitution, he had a reasonable expectation of privacy within his bedroom that was beyond the scope of the search warrant that police officers had obtained for the dwelling at 2253 Mokuhau Road. Furthermore, Anderson noted that After hearing oral arguments regarding Anderson's motion to suppress, the circuit court concluded that the police officers had exceeded the scope of the search warrant by searching the locked bedroom that Anderson allegedly rented from Benito Gamit:

[84 Hawai'i 466] the search warrant did not even name him as a resident of the dwelling to be searched.

THE COURT: In my mind there's no question that the search warrant covers the entire house. The problem I find--and there's no question in my mind that if that pouch had been found in the kitchen, then the fact that it was a pouch with a gun in it there's no problem. The problem I have is this was--there may have been an expectation of privacy as defined by the law with regard to this particular room....

... I'm going to grant the motion to suppress.

Subsequently, the circuit court issued the following findings of facts, conclusions of law, and order:

FINDINGS OF FACTS

1. On December 8, 1993, at about 7:55 p.m., search warrant SW93-166 was executed on the residence of Avelino Villon and Bayani Gamit at 2253 Mokuhau Road, Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii;

2. In the course of executing the search on the residence, officers came upon the closed and secured door leading to the room of Defendant William Anderson;

3. The police announced they had a warrant and the bedroom door was opened by Defendant;

4. Police then searched Defendant's bedroom and found a 357 revolver within a locked guncase [sic] behind a piece of wood in the wall, a box of cartridges, a clear plastic packet containing white powder, and a brass smoking pipe;

5. Officers also learned from the landlord Benito Gamit, that Defendant Anderson was renting...