Com. v. Brundidge

• Decision Date: 15 April 1991
• Docket Number: No. 251,251
• Citation: 590 A.2d 302,404 Pa.Super. 106
• Parties: COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Robert L. BRUNDIDGE, Appellant. HSBG. 1989
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 302

590 A.2d 302

404 Pa.Super. 106

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania v. Robert L. BRUNDIDGE, Appellant.

No. 251 HSBG. 1989

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Submitted April 4, 1990.

Filed April 15, 1991.

Todd A. Dorsett, Waynesboro, for appellant.

Gregory Lensbower, Asst. Dist. Atty., Chambersburg, for Com., appellee.

Before CIRILLO, President Judge, and BECK and HESTER, JJ.

BECK, Judge:

The issue presented is whether appellant's constitutional rights were violated when the police conducted a warrantless search of a jacket that was covered with plastic and hanging in a closet in a motel room one-half hour after check-out time. We conclude that, although the police entry and search of the motel room did not infringe on Fourth Amendment rights, the additional governmental intrusion into appellant's enclosed personal effects violated his constitutionally safeguarded expectations of privacy. Since we find that the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the evidence uncovered in this unreasonable search, we reverse the judgment of sentence and remand for a new trial.

I.

In reviewing a trial court's denial of a motion to suppress, we consider the evidence of the prosecution, and so much of the evidence of the defense as, read in the context of the record as a whole, remains uncontradicted. Commonwealth v. Kean, 382 Pa.Super. 587, 590, 556 A.2d 374, 375 (1989); Commonwealth v. Lemanski, 365 Pa.Super. 332, 341-344, 529 A.2d 1085, 1089-90 (1987). Viewed in this light, the facts of this case are as follows.

On August 25, 1987, appellant Robert L. Brundidge registered at the Greencastle Travelodge Motel for one night for a party of two: himself and his companion James Jackson. Appellant listed his home address as Haines City, Florida. Seana Rhodes, the front desk clerk, registered appellant in room 307. Pursuant to motel policy, Rhodes ordinarily informed motel guests that check-out time is twelve noon. There was also a sign displayed at the front desk informing the guests that check-out time is twelve noon.

Several motel employees observed appellant and Jackson together on the evening of August 25. They left the motel at approximately twelve midnight, and did not return that night. The following day, at approximately twelve noon, Dorcas Sheffield, the executive housekeeper, telephoned room 307 pursuant to usual motel procedure, to determine whether the occupants wished to retain the room for a second night. When she received no answer, she entered the room to prepare it for the next guest. She found that the beds had not been slept in the previous night. On one of the beds she found a diagram of the motel floor plan labelled "front desk" with the handwritten name "James Q. Jackson" on it. On a table she found several one-inch square clear plastic bags.

Ms. Sheffield was alarmed by the diagram in particular because only two weeks before, a motel guest had perpetrated an armed robbery of the front desk. She went to the motel manager, Norman Reed, to report what she found in the room. State Trooper Gary Bopp, an undercover narcotics agent, was in the manager's office at the time investigating an unrelated matter. The manager and Trooper Bopp went with Ms. Sheffield to room 307. Trooper Bopp waited outside while Sheffield and Reed investigated. After Reed determined that no other persons were in the room, he asked Trooper Bopp to enter. At approximately 12:20 p.m., Trooper Bopp entered room 307. He observed in plain view the diagram and the small plastic bags, which he recognized as the kind of bags used for packaging small quantities of controlled substances. He proceeded to search the room. In the only closet, he found a jacket with a protective plastic bag over it. He searched the jacket, and in a pocket, he found a plastic bag inside another plastic bag filled with a white powder which was later determined to be 206.6 grams of pure cocaine. He removed a small sample of the powder for field testing and replaced the bag in the jacket pocket. Field testing erroneously indicated that the substance was methamphetamine. The trooper then telephoned the district attorney's office regarding the need for a search warrant, and telephoned police headquarters for assistance.

At 12:45 p.m., appellant and Jackson returned to the motel. Shortly thereafter, appellant registered for a second night. The two were kept under surveillance by state police while Trooper Bopp obtained a search warrant. At approximately 3:00 p.m., appellant and Jackson attempted to exit the motel. State police officers ordered them to halt. Appellant stopped, but Jackson attempted to flee and was shot by an officer. Trooper Bopp returned with search warrants for the motel room and appellant's and Jackson's cars. He seized the diagram, plastic bags, and bag of cocaine he previously found. Trooper Paul searched both appellant's and Jackson's cars. From Jackson's car, he seized an empty "Skoal" chewing tobacco can containing a white residue and a razor blade, an unregistered gun, and three rounds of ammunition. He found no incriminating evidence in appellant's car.

Appellant was arrested and charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver ¹ and conspiracy. ² After his arrest, and after he was given Miranda warnings, appellant stated to police that the cocaine found in the jacket was not his, but Jackson's. At the time, police were under the misapprehension that the substance found in the jacket was methamphetamine. He also told police that he knew Jackson was selling drugs in Hagerstown, and that he was providing him with a place to stay and transportation to and from Hagerstown.

Appellant and Jackson were tried separately. Appellant filed a pre-trial motion to suppress the cocaine, which was denied. He was subsequently found guilty of both charges and sentenced to a term of five to ten years imprisonment. Appellant filed a timely notice of appeal from judgment of sentence.

Appellant raises two issues on appeal: (1) whether the admission of the cocaine into evidence violated his constitutional rights; and (2) whether there was sufficient evidence presented at trial to sustain his conviction of both charges. We conclude that appellant's suppression claim has merit and warrants the grant of a new trial. ³

II.

In support of his Fourth Amendment claim, appellant argues that he retained a constitutionally protected privacy interest in both the motel room and all its contents even though he concedes that check-out time had passed. In so arguing, appellant correctly focuses on what is clearly, in this context, the fundamental Fourth Amendment concern, i.e., the protection of legitimate privacy interests. ⁴ We disagree with appellant's overbroad and unsupported conclusion that, despite the expiration of his rental period in the motel room, his privacy interests in that room warrant continued constitutional protection. On the other hand, the extinguishment of appellant's privacy interest in the motel room did not deprive him of all Fourth Amendment protection for the concealed contents of his personal effects within that room. Our conclusion is supported by settled constitutional principles and case law.

The Fourth Amendment provides:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Over years of evolving Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, a fundamental precept has emerged and that is, "the protection of the Fourth Amendment depends not upon a property right in the invaded place but whether the person who claims the protection of the Amendment has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place." Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 143, 99 S.Ct. 421, 430, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978). In order to invoke the protection of the Fourth Amendment, the expectation of privacy which allegedly has been invaded by government action must be "justifiable," "legitimate" and one which "society is prepared to recognize as 'reasonable'." Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 360-361, 88 S.Ct. 507, 516, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (Harlan, J., concurring). The constitutional legitimacy of an expectation of privacy is not dependent on the subjective intent of the individual asserting the right. See, e.g., Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 525-526 n. 7, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 3199-3200 n. 7, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984). Indeed, as Mr. Justice Powell emphasized in his concurring opinion in Rakas, "it is not enough that an individual desired or anticipated that he would be free from governmental intrusion." Rather, he concluded, "[t]he ultimate question is whether one's claim to privacy from governmental intrusion is reasonable in light of all the surrounding circumstances." Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. at 151-152, 99 S.Ct. at 435 (Powell, J., concurring). Finally, it has been noted by the United States Supreme Court that, "[d]etermining whether an expectation of privacy is 'legitimate' or 'reasonable' necessarily entails a balancing of interests." Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. at 527, 104 S.Ct. at 3200. Our conclusion in appellant's case turns upon these general considerations.

A guest in a hotel or motel has an undeniably legitimate expectation of privacy in his room during the period of time for which it is rented. ⁵ Fourth Amendment protection extends to a hotel room, paid for and occupied, in much the same way as it does to a citizen's home or office. See Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293, 87 S.Ct. 408, 17 L.Ed.2d 374 (1966); Stoner v. California, 376 U.S. 483, 84 S.Ct. 889, 11 L.Ed.2d 856 (1964); see also Commonwealth v. Cooper, 240 Pa.Super. 477, 488-489, 362 A.2d 1041, 1049 (1976), vacated on other grounds, 468 Pa. 390, 363 A.2d 783 (1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1048, 97 S.Ct. 758, ...