State v. Arthun
| Decision Date | 21 November 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 95-086,95-086 |
| Citation | 274 Mont. 82,906 P.2d 216 |
| Parties | STATE of Montana, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ellen ARTHUN and Bruce Arthun, Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | Montana Supreme Court |
Larry Jent, Williams, Jent & Dockins, Bozeman, for Appellant.
Joseph P. Mazurek, Attorney General, John A. Paulson, Assistant Attorney General, Helena, Robert W. Brown, Special Deputy Park County Attorney, Montana Law Enforcement Academy, Bozeman, for Respondent.
Defendants Ellen and Bruce Arthun were charged by information with possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal possession of dangerous drugs. After a nonjury trial in the District Court for the Sixth Judicial District in Park County, the Arthuns were found guilty of all charges. The Arthuns appeal the District Court's denial of their motion to suppress evidence and the court's verdict. We affirm the order and judgment of the District Court.
There are three issues on appeal:
1. Did the District Court err when it denied the Arthuns' motion to suppress the package of marijuana?
2. Was there sufficient evidence to convict both defendants of felony criminal possession of dangerous drugs?
3. Was there sufficient evidence to convict Bruce Arthun of misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia?
On May 25, 1993, Mike Bracket, a police officer in Louisville, Kentucky, contacted Park County Deputy Sheriff, Henry Tashjian, and informed him that the United Parcel Service (UPS) transport hub in Louisville had inspected a package addressed to Ellen Arthun in Park County, Montana, and had discovered what appeared to be a sizeable amount of marijuana. The marijuana had been shipped in a motor oil box from Tucson, Arizona, and was addressed to Ellen at the Arthuns' rural home located on U.S. Highway 89 between Wilsall and Clyde Park.
Officer Tashjian arranged for the box to be sent to the Livingston Police Department. When the package arrived the next day, the officers tested the contents and resealed it for delivery to the Arthuns' residence.
Livingston Police Officer Gerald Cox, disguised as a UPS delivery man, made the delivery on May 26, 1993, at about 3:45 p.m. Ellen Arthun came to the door and accepted the package. She expressed no surprise at its delivery, and neither Ellen nor Bruce did anything to return or disclaim it.
Officer Tashjian and other local law enforcement personnel set up surveillance points near the Arthuns' home and observed the area through binoculars for several hours after the delivery of the package. They saw Bruce and his young stepson leave the residence and drive to an unlocked farm shed located about 400 yards away on the other side of U.S. Highway 89. Bruce entered the shed for a short time, then drove one mile to his parents' ranch home. That afternoon, Bruce and his stepson also went gopher hunting and drove to a store in Wilsall before they returned home. The officers' surveillance was obstructed at times during their surveillance, and they did not see Bruce take the box out of his home.
Following the surveillance, Officer Tashjian obtained a search warrant for the Arthuns' residence and served it at 8:39 p.m. Officer Tashjian walked up to the Arthuns' home and spoke with Ellen and Bruce. He explained the reason for the search, told them about the officers' involvement in the UPS delivery, and had them wait on the living room couch while the search was conducted. The Arthuns were not handcuffed during the search.
During the search, the officers found a baggie of marijuana, some Zig Zag rolling papers, and a marijuana pipe in the kitchen cupboards. They also found another marijuana pipe, a "roach" clip used for holding marijuana cigarettes, and numerous partially burned marijuana cigarettes in two glass bowls on the kitchen counter. In Ellen's purse, located on the kitchen counter, the officers found more Zig Zag papers, some marijuana, and a variety of pills for which Ellen had no prescription. Also in Ellen's purse were several UPS receipts for shipments to Tucson, Arizona. However, the officers did not find the UPS box in the house.
Following the search, Officer Tashjian placed the Arthuns under arrest. They were advised of their rights outside the presence of their two children and were placed in separate patrol cars. Officer Tashjian then asked Bruce Arthun where the UPS package was located. At first Bruce replied, "What box?" Officer Tashjian again explained that the officers had conducted and observed the controlled delivery of the box and had watched Bruce's movements after the delivery, including his trips to the farm shed and his parents' house. Officer Tashjian told Bruce he could get a search warrant for the shed and Bruce's parents' house if necessary. Bruce did not state where the box was located, but said he would show the officers. He directed two of the officers to the farm shed located 400 yards away on the other side of the highway, entered the shed with them, and pointed out where the box was concealed behind some old boards and farm supplies. The officers retrieved the box, which had not been opened.
The items retrieved from the Arthuns' home and from Ellen's purse were tested at the Montana Crime Lab, and were found to be dangerous drugs of different types (marijuana, oxycodene, alprazolan, and morphine). Tests of the contents of the UPS package discovered in the shed disclosed 3.96 pounds of marijuana, a controlled substance. On the basis of these tests, both Ellen and Bruce were charged with criminal possession of drug paraphernalia and criminal possession of dangerous drugs.
On November 15, 1993, the Arthuns filed a motion to suppress the UPS package on the basis that it was the product of a warrantless search to which they had not consented. The District Court denied that motion and found that there was a search of the farm shed, but that Bruce consented to it, and that neither Bruce nor Ellen had standing to complain of a warrantless search of the structure. Following a nonjury trial, Bruce was convicted of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of criminal possession of dangerous drugs. Ellen was convicted of four counts of criminal possession of dangerous drugs and one count of criminal possession of drug paraphernalia.
Did the District Court err when it denied the Arthuns' motion to suppress the package of marijuana?
We review a district court's denial of a motion to suppress to determine whether the court's findings of fact are clearly erroneous, and whether those findings were correctly applied as a matter of law. State v. Williams (1995), --- Mont. ----, ----, 904 P.2d 1019, 1021, 52 St.Rep. 1085, 1086 (citing State v. Flack (1993), 260 Mont. 181, 188, 860 P.2d 89, 94).
In this case, the facts are undisputed. Both parties agree that, based on the evidence seized during a lawful search of the Arthuns' home, Officer Tashjian arrested Bruce and Ellen and advised them of their rights pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona (1966), 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694. Both parties further agree that later, after the UPS package was not discovered in the Arthuns' home, Officer Tashjian told Bruce that he could get a search warrant for the shed and Bruce's parents' house. Finally, the parties agree that Bruce responded to the request for evidence by taking two officers to the farm shed and specifically directing them to the location of the package.
Based on the foregoing facts, the District Court denied the Arthuns' motion to suppress. The court held that there was a search of the farm shed, but that Bruce had consented to it, and that neither Bruce nor Ellen had standing to challenge a warrantless search of the structure. Although we disagree that the Arthuns lacked standing (see State v. Bullock (1995), --- Mont. ----, 901 P.2d 61, 52 St.Rep. 717), it is well established that this Court will uphold the district court's result, if correct, even though arrived at for the wrong reason. Hagan v. State (1994), 265 Mont. 31, 35, 873 P.2d 1385, 1387. Therefore, we hold that the District Court correctly denied the Arthuns' motion to suppress because there was no search of the shed which could have violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, or Article II, Section 11, of the Montana Constitution.
The issue of whether the discovery of the UPS box constituted a "search" in violation of the Fourth Amendment was raised and briefed at the district court level. In response to the Arthuns' motion to suppress, the prosecutor argued that the box had not been recovered by means of a search and seizure under either the Fourth Amendment, or Article II, Section 11, since Bruce had essentially handed over the box of marijuana and no search had been conducted. At both the district court level and on appeal, the State cited State v. Graves (1981), 191 Mont. 81, 622 P.2d 203, for the proposition that a defendant's delivery of a piece of evidence does not constitute a search.
In Graves, the defendant was involved in a bar fight in which he stabbed another bar patron. A police officer later approached the defendant and asked him if he had been involved in the altercation. The defendant answered that he had. When the officer asked him if a knife had been involved, the defendant said "yes" and turned the knife over to the police. The defendant later maintained that the knife should be suppressed as a result of a nonconsensual warrantless search and seizure. This Court held that no search was involved because the defendant handed the evidence over to the police. Graves, 622 P.2d at 208.
We agree that the Graves holding applies to this case. The record is clear that the officers did not conduct an independent inspection of the farm shed, but rather entered it at Bruce's invitation and retrieved the box which Bruce located for them. This Court has previously stated that:
A 'search'...
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