State v. Brown

• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Justice ALBIN delivered the opinion of the Court.
• Citation: State v. Brown, 216 N.J. 508, 83 A.3d 45 (N.J. 2014)
• Decision Date: 29 January 2014
• Parties: STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Derrick BROWN, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong, Defendants–Respondents.

216 N.J. 508

83 A.3d 45

STATE of New Jersey, Plaintiff–Appellant,

v.Derrick BROWN, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong, Defendants–Respondents.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued April 16, 2013.

Decided Jan. 29, 2014.

Linda A. Shashoua, Assistant Prosecutor, argued the cause for appellant (Warren W. Faulk, Camden County Prosecutor, attorney).

Kenneth D. Aita, Haddon Heights, argued the cause for respondent Derrick Brown.

Theodore J. Baker, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for respondent Kareem Strong (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney).

Brad Wertheimer, Designated Counsel, argued the cause for respondent Leroy Carstarphen (Joseph E. Krakora, Public Defender, attorney).

Jennifer E. Kmieciak, Deputy Attorney General, argued the cause for amicus curiae Attorney General of New Jersey (Jeffrey S. Chiesa, Attorney General, attorney).

Justice ALBIN delivered the opinion of the Court.

Our Federal and State Constitutions protect the sanctity of the home from unreasonable searches by government officials. The constitutional protections afforded to the home make no distinction between a manor estate in an affluent town and a ramshackle hovel in an impoverished city. The occupants of both structures are clothed with the same constitutional rights. In both cases, the search of a home without a warrant is presumptively unreasonable, and the State therefore bears the burden of showing either that the defendant has no standing to challenge the search or that any such search falls within a well-delineated exception to the warrant requirement.

In this case, during a surveillance over two days, the New Jersey State Police observed drug activity operating from 820 Line Street, a dilapidated row house in the City of Camden with one or more windows broken, the interior in disarray, the front door padlocked, and the back door off its hinges but propped closed. The State Police arrested defendants Derrick Brown, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong for dealing drugs. After securing a key from one of the defendants to open the padlock, the police conducted a warrantless search of the row house, seizing a gun and drugs. Defendants moved to suppress that evidence as the product of an unconstitutional search.

At a suppression hearing, the State claimed that the warrantless search of 820 Line Street by the State Police was justified because the property was abandoned. After taking testimony, the trial court found that the State did not establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the shabby and neglected row house was abandoned property. The court noted that defendants were exercising possessory or proprietary rights over the property and that the State Police did not make efforts to identify an owner. The Appellate Division found that the trial court's fact-findings and legal conclusions were supported by the record.

We affirm. Under our deferential standard of review, we do not second-guess the trial court when sufficient credible evidence in the record supports its findings. Here, the record supports the trial court's finding that the State did not meet its burden of justifying the warrantless search. In particular, the State did not establish that the property, although in decrepit condition, was abandoned or that defendants were trespassers. We have no reason to disturb those findings and therefore uphold the suppression of the evidence.

I.

A.

Defendants Derrick Brown, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong were charged in a Camden County Indictment with third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS), namely cocaine, N.J.S.A. 2C:35–10(a)(1); third-degree possession of CDS with intent to distribute, N.J.S.A. 2C:35–5(a)(1), –5(b)(3); third-degree unlawful possession of weapons, N.J.S.A. 2C:39–5(c); second-degree weapons possession during CDS offenses, N.J.S.A. 2C:39–4.1(a); and third-degree conspiracy to possess CDS with intent to distribute, N.J.S.A. 2C:5–2, :35–5(a)(1), :35–5(b)(3). Brown and Strong were also charged with second-degree certainpersons not to have weapons, N.J.S.A. 2C:39–7(b).

Defendants claim that the State Police unconstitutionally seized evidence during a warrantless search of 820 Line Street in Camden. The trial court conducted a two-day suppression hearing at which Troopers Kurt Kennedy and Gregory Austin testified.

B.

According to Trooper Kennedy, the State Police received information from two confidential informants and a concerned citizen that defendant Strong was selling drugs and in possession of a sawed-off shotgun.¹ The information also indicated that Strong was using 820 Line Street as a “stash location” and kept a lock on the residence.

On May 12, 2010, Trooper Kennedy set up a surveillance of 820 Line Street during daylight hours, but exactly when or for how long is unclear. Trooper Kennedy observed what he believed to be four drug transactions, each following the same pattern. Two unknown black males, apparently drug sellers, stood outside 820 Line Street as buyers approached one of the two and gave him money. After taking the money, the unknown seller unlocked the door to 820 Line Street, entered for approximately thirty seconds, secured the door as he exited, and then handed a small item to the buyer. The trooper also observed, coming from 815 Line Street, a third unknown black male who gave the seller a sandwich bag, presumably with drugs. Trooper Kennedy came to the unremarkable conclusion that the three individuals were selling drugs out of 820 and 815 Line Street. He did not attempt to determine who owned or lived in either residence or to secure a search warrant.

On May 17, Trooper Kennedy and a fellow trooper conducted a second surveillance of 820 Line Street, during daylight, beginning about 6:00 a.m. or 7:00 a.m. Trooper Kennedy observed two black men standing near the residence, one whom he knew to be defendant Strong and the other whom he later learned was Tyree Thomas. Two more black men came onto the scene: defendant Derrick Brown, who rode up to the group on a bicycle, and defendant Leroy Carstarphen, who approached on foot and “shook everyone's hand.” At this point, all four men were standing in front of 815 Line Street, across the street from 820 Line Street. Carstarphen then walked to the corner of 8th and Line Street and stood there. None of these four individuals were identified by Trooper Kennedy as any of the black males he had seen five days earlier entering 820 Line Street.

Trooper Kennedy witnessed fifteen drug transactions that fit the following pattern. A buyer approached and gave money to either Brown or Strong. The one receiving the currency then unlocked the padlock and entered 820 Line Street, exiting shortly afterwards with a small item that was handed to the buyer. Sometimes a buyer gave money to Thomas, who then entered 815 Line Street and exited with a small item that he handed to the buyer. After observing these drug transactions for “a little more than [two] hours,” Trooper Kennedy called in arrest teams to place the suspects into custody. Strong was arrested in front of 820 Line Street, and Brown, Carstarphen, and Thomas were arrested in front of 815 Line Street. None had drugs in their possession, but the troopers confiscated $173 from Brown.

One of the arresting officers, Trooper Gregory Austin, took from defendant Strong keys that opened the padlock securing the front door to 820 Line Street. The front door was the only means of gaining access to the residence.

Trooper Austin testified to the events that occurred after the arrests. Three or four troopers were posted in front of 820 Line and two in the rear, securing the entire residence. One of the two front windows was broken, “cracked” with “a piece missing.” Austin was uncertain whether the other window was damaged. The front door was padlocked, and the rear door was “off the hinges” and “propped closed” so that no one could exit from inside. At no point did Trooper Austin suggest that the front door could not be locked from the inside—that is, that the padlock was not a secondary level of protection. Through the front broken window, Trooper Austin could see “trash bags” filled with “old clothes” and “soda cans” littering the living room. “[T]here could have been upside-down furniture” as well. The living room was “in disarray,” and no lights were on at the time. Austin did not observe any light fixtures, and the electric meter was missing.

Unlike 820 Line, the neighboring houses immediately to the left and right were boarded up. Trooper Austin determined that 820 Line was an “abandoned” house and could be searched without a warrant. He came to that conclusion based on the broken window (or windows), the absence of an electric meter, the propped-closed door in the rear, and the trashy condition of the interior.

The troopers opened the padlock and entered the residence, sweeping through the house to make certain no one else was inside. They then searched the house. Trooper Austin reported that there were holes in the wall, human feces on the floor, and “trash everywhere,” although he did not elaborate on what he meant by trash. He did see a “small electrical appliance,” a “Hamilton Beach Custom Grinder,” used to grind coffee. He did not, however, test the utilities. The first floor contained stairs leading to an upper floor and to a basement. Austin did not describe the number of rooms in the residence or whether there were furnishings in the rooms.

Ultimately, the troopers discovered evidence of criminality inside 820 Line: a sawed-off rifle inside a floor air vent, and drugs and drug paraphernalia on a shelf above the stairs to the basement. On the shelf were “yellow caps of crack cocaine”; little Ziploc bags containing wax paper folds typically used to package heroin; and a grinder, strainer, and toothbrush.

The troopers concluded that the residence across the street, 815 Line Street, was “occupied” and therefore Trooper Kennedy secured a search warrant...