State v. Duhart

• Decision Date: 06 February 2002
• Docket Number: No. 4D01-1343.,4D01-1343.
• Citation: 810 So.2d 972
• Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Donald DUHART, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

810 So.2d 972

STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Donald DUHART, Appellee.

No. 4D01-1343.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

February 6, 2002.

Rehearing Denied April 2, 2002.

Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and James J. Carney, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Paul E. Petillo, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

SHAHOOD, J.

Appellant, State of Florida, appeals an order granting appellee's motion to suppress. Holding that the trial court abused its discretion in granting appellee's motion to suppress, we reverse and remand for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In this case, the state charged appellee, Donald Duhart, by information with grand theft of a motorcycle. Appellee filed a motion to suppress the motorcycle that was seized, as well as any statements he may have made to the law enforcement officers.

At the hearing on the motion, the arresting officer testified that he was dispatched to appellee's residence after receiving an anonymous call that a black male was in his garage removing parts from a stolen motorcycle. The caller gave a specific address and indicated that the black male was not wearing a shirt. Upon arriving at the address, the officer observed appellee and one other person removing parts from a motorcycle. Appellee did not have a shirt on.

The officer approached appellee, asked him for identification, and asked whether he had a title to the motorcycle. Appellee answered that he did not, so the officer entered the garage without a search warrant or appellee's invitation to do so. The officer retrieved the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) from the motorcycle. After running the number through the teletype, the officer confirmed with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department that the motorcycle was stolen out of Fort Lauderdale. Thereafter, he placed appellee under arrest and read him his Miranda rights. Based on this evidence, the trial court granted appellee's motion to suppress.

In considering whether one's Fourth Amendment rights have been violated, the analysis is whether that person has a "constitutionally protected reasonable expectation of privacy." Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 360, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967). Although it is well settled that one has an expectation of privacy in his home or its curtilage, the Fourth Amendment is not necessarily a protection in areas of the home, as in this case, which are open and exposed to public view. See, e.g., Koehler v. State, 444 So.2d 1032 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984)(no expectation of privacy on unenclosed front porch which was exposed to public view); State v. Detlefson, 335 So.2d 371 (Fla. 1st DCA 1976)(no reasonable expectation of privacy on front porch of home where delivery men and others were free to observe plants thereon).

In this case, although the area where appellee was working was repeatedly referred to as a garage, the officer actually described it as a covered open area that was attached to the house, more like a carport. Appellee could not have had a reasonable expectation of privacy under these circumstances.

Both the Florida Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court have held that a vehicle registration number on the outside of a vehicle is considered to be in plain view, even if one must use a flashlight or bend down to view the numbers. See Ramer v. State, 530 So.2d 915, 918 (Fla.1988)(citing New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 106 S.Ct. 960, 89 L.Ed.2d 81 (1986))(looking under the car to obtain the VIN number is not a factor which makes the search unreasonable).

Hence, since the officer was lawfully on the premises and the VIN number was in plain view, appellee's Fourth Amendment rights were not violated. Consequently, the seizure was valid and the trial court erred in granting appellee's motion to suppress.

REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT WITH THIS OPINION.

POLEN, C.J., concurs.

KLEIN, J., dissents with opinion.

KLEIN, J., dissenting.

I respectfully dissent. The trial court found that when the officer entered the carport he violated the Fourth Amendment. The only basis on which the majority could reverse that finding is if a carport visible from the street is, as a matter of law, not part of the curtilage for purposes of the Fourth Amendment. I cannot agree with that proposition.

The burden on the motion to suppress in the present case was initially on the defendant to establish his standing to claim an illegal search or seizure by showing he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched. United States v. Mancini, 8 F.3d 104 (1st Cir.1993). Once the defendant establishes standing, the burden shifts to the state to show that entry without a warrant does not violate the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Perea, 986 F.2d 633 (2d Cir.1992). State v. Morsman, 394 So.2d 408 (Fla.1981).

The state apparently conceded that the defendant in the present case had standing because the hearing began with the state putting on its evidence. The state may have assumed that the defendant had standing because in his motion to suppress the defendant referred to the area of his home where he was working as a garage and the officer who testified described it as a garage. The officer ultimately clarified that it was an open covered area attached to the house. There was no evidence as to whether it was open on all sides which were not common with the home.

In United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S. 294, 107 S.Ct. 1134, 94 L.Ed.2d 326 (1987), the Supreme Court established four factors to be used to determine, for purposes of search and seizure, whether a particular area constitutes curtilage. The factors are: "[1] the proximity of the area claimed to be curtilage to the home, [2] whether the area is included within an enclosure surrounding the home, [3] the nature of the uses to which the area is put, and [4] the steps taken by the resident to protect the area from observation by people passing." Id. at 334-35, 107 S.Ct. 1134.

The fact that activities carried on within a carport can easily be seen from the sidewalk or street is thus only one factor. If this attached carport had been a garage with the door up, in which the same activity was occurring and it was just as visible from the street, the officer could not have walked in in order to look at the VIN number on the motorcycle. A garage attached to a residence is part of the curtilage for Fourth Amendment purposes. As the court explained in United States v. Oaxaca, 233 F.3d 1154, 1157 (9th Cir. 2000):

We can conceive of no reason to distinguish a garage, where people spend time, work, and store their possessions, from a den or a kitchen, where people spend time, work, and store their possessions. Simply put, a person's garage is as much a part of his castle as the rest of his home.

If the defendant had...