State v. Buhler

• Decision Date: 29 July 2002
• Docket Number: No. 27448.,27448.
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Kasie BUHLER, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Court of Appeals

52 P.3d 329

137 Idaho 685

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Kasie BUHLER, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 27448.

Court of Appeals of Idaho.

July 29, 2002.

Hon. Alan G. Lance, Attorney General; Karen A. Hudelson, Deputy Attorney General, Boise, for appellant Karen A. Hudelson argued.

Molly J. Huskey, Interim State Appellate Public Defender; Charles Isaac Wadams, Deputy Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for respondent. Charles Isaac Wadams argued.

LANSING, Judge.

The State appeals from an order granting Kasie Buhler's motion to suppress evidence found by police during a warrantless search of her residence. Because we agree with the district court that the State failed to prove an exception to the warrant requirement, we affirm.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Buhler lived in a rented room in a house belonging to Eric Summers, in which Summers also resided. Buhler's contact with law enforcement officials in this case began because of her association with a parolee, Cody Storer. Storer was on parole for convictions in the states of Utah and Nevada, under the supervision of the Idaho Department of Correction pursuant to an interstate compact. As a condition of parole, Storer had agreed to allow searches of his residence and vehicle without a warrant upon reasonable suspicion.

Storer's parole officer, Eileen Wood, received a call from Summers in which Summers requested assistance in removing Storer from his house. Summers reported that for the past couple of days, Storer had been staying with Buhler in the room that Buhler was renting from Summers. Summers told Officer Wood that he believed Storer was selling and using drugs and that when Summers told Storer to leave, Storer responded with a threat and said that he would leave when he wanted to. Based on this information, Wood requested assistance from local police officers to investigate the reported drug activities. While officers were observing the residence, Buhler and Storer left in a pickup driven by Buhler. The officers stopped the pickup. After Storer refused to talk to Wood, the vehicle was searched and a small set of scales was found in the glove compartment.

The officers returned to the residence with Buhler and Storer. After Buhler refused a request to unlock the door, the officers broke in; they did not ask Storer to unlock the door. In a CD case they found approximately one gram of methamphetamine. Under a garbage can liner they found fifteen individually wrapped methamphetamine stones, each weighing approximately one gram. They also found a few items of men's clothing and four or five pay stubs with Storer's name on them.

After Buhler was charged with possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, Idaho Code § 37-2732(a)(1)(A), she moved to suppress the evidence found in the vehicle and in her room. The State did not attempt to justify the warrantless search of Buhler's vehicle. As to the evidence found in Buhler's room, the State argued that the search was justified by Storer's consent, in his parole agreement, to warrantless searches of his residence. The district court held that the State had not proven that Storer resided with Buhler and therefore had not shown that he possessed actual or apparent authority to consent to the search of Buhler's room. Therefore the court suppressed all the evidence found in the residence as well as that found in the vehicle. The State appeals the suppression of the evidence discovered in the residence.

II. ANALYSIS

On review of a suppression motion, this Court will defer to the trial court's findings of fact unless they are clearly erroneous, but we exercise free review over the application of constitutional standards to those facts. State v. McCaughey, 127 Idaho 669, 671-72, 904 P.2d 939, 941-42 (1995); State v. Hawkins, 131 Idaho 396, 400, 958 P.2d 22, 26 (Ct.App.1998). In this case the facts are undisputed, and we are therefore presented with only an issue of law as to whether the facts justified the warrantless search.

It is a fundamental tenet of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence that "searches and seizures inside a home without a warrant are presumptively unreasonable." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 586, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1380, 63 L.Ed.2d 639, 651 (1980). See also Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U.S. 740, 749, 104 S.Ct. 2091, 2097, 80 L.Ed.2d 732, 742 (1984)

; State v. Revenaugh, 133 Idaho 774, 776, 992 P.2d 769, 771 (1999); State v. Curl, 125 Idaho 224, 225, 869 P.2d 224, 225 (1993); State v. Misner, 135 Idaho 277, 279, 16 P.3d 953, 955 (Ct.App.2000). This presumption of unreasonableness can be overcome, however, by a showing that the search was conducted with the consent of an individual with authority to permit to the search. United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171, 94 S.Ct. 988, 993, 39 L.Ed.2d 242, 249 (1974); Misner, 135 Idaho at 279,

16 P.3d at 955. Consent obtained as a condition of parole provides justification for searching a parolee's residence. State v. Gawron, 112 Idaho 841, 843, 736 P.2d 1295, 1297 (1987); Misner, 135 Idaho at 279,

16 P.3d at 955.

When the State asserts that a warrantless search was conducted with consent, the State bears the burden of proving that the consent was given by one with authority to do so. Matlock, 415 U.S. at 177-78, 94 S.Ct. at 996-97, 39 L.Ed.2d at 253-54; Misner, 135 Idaho at 279, 16 P.3d at 955. Permission to search need not be obtained from the defendant; it may come from another who "possessed common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected." Matlock, 415 U.S. at 171, 94 S.Ct. at 993, 39 L.Ed.2d at 249. See also Misner, 135 Idaho at 279,

16 P.3d at 955; State v. Ham, 113 Idaho 405, 406, 744 P.2d 133, 134 (Ct.App.1987). Such authority derives from "mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes," so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched. Matlock, 415 U.S. at 171 n. 7,

94 S.Ct. at 993 n. 7,

39 L.Ed.2d at 250 n. 7.

A. Apparent Authority

If police reasonably believed that the consenting person possessed sufficient authority to consent to the search, the warrantless search will be upheld, even if it is later determined that actual authority was lacking. Illinois v. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. 177, 188-89, 110 S.Ct. 2793, 2801-02, 111 L.Ed.2d 148, 161-62 (1990); State v. Brauch, 133 Idaho 215, 219, 984 P.2d 703, 707 (1999); McCaughey, 127 Idaho at 672-73,904 P.2d at 942-43; Misner, 135 Idaho at 279,16 P.3d at 955. In Rodriguez, officers searched an apartment with consent obtained from a woman who claimed to live there, had furniture and clothing there, and had a key, which she used to open the door for the officers. In reality, the woman had moved out a month earlier and was only an infrequent visitor. Although actual authority to consent was absent, the United States Supreme Court held that the search did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the officers' reliance on the woman's claimed authority over the apartment was reasonable under the circumstances. The Court noted that the Constitution requires only that the officers' belief in the consenter's authority be objectively reasonable, not that it be legally and factually correct. Therefore, in evaluating a claim that officers acted on the consent of a person with apparent authority, the proper inquiry is whether "the facts available to the officer at the moment ... `warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief' that the consenting party had authority over the premises?" Rodriguez, 497 U.S. at 188,110 S.Ct. at 2801,111 L.Ed.2d at 161 (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 906 (1968)). See also Misner, 135 Idaho at 279,

16 P.3d at 955; State v. Hawkins, 131 Idaho 396, 400-01, 958 P.2d 22, 26-27 (Ct.App.1998). If not, a warrantless entry is unlawful unless actual authority exists. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. at 188-89,

110 S.Ct. at 2801-02,

111 L.Ed.2d at 161-62.

With respect to the search of Buhler's room, we must examine whether, on the facts as they appeared to the officers before the entry, the officers entertained a reasonable belief that Storer was a resident and therefore possessed authority to permit a search of the premises. Because this inquiry turns upon the information known to the officers before the entry, any evidence of Storer's occupancy discovered after the entry cannot be considered on the question of apparent authority.

The fact that Buhler, the person who was known to be renting the room, was present and was refusing to allow entry, is a significant factor in assessing the reasonableness of the officers' reliance upon Storer's consent. In this respect, the present case is similar to State v. Benson, 133 Idaho 152, 158, 983 P.2d 225, 231 (Ct.App.1999), where occupants of a garage-residence loudly objected to the police presence and refused to allow a search. The police removed the two occupants, Benson and Stafford, from the area and then obtained consent from the garage owner, Hilton (Stafford's mother). This Court held that the officers' reliance on Hilton's consent was objectively unreasonable. We stated:

The detectives never sought to establish Stafford and Benson's interest in the garage, ignored their protests, and merely queried Hilton very cursorily and superficially as to her interest in the property. We find that such deliberate indifference to or conscious avoidance of Benson's and Stafford's interest in the garage, under the totality of the circumstances presented, renders the detectives' reliance on Hilton's apparent authority objectively unreasonable. While "[w]e do not hold that police must invariably seek consent from the suspect before relying on a third party's consent[,] ... when the police intentionally bypass a suspect who is

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