State v. Fees
| Decision Date | 22 April 2004 |
| Docket Number | No. 29421.,29421. |
| Citation | 140 Idaho 81,90 P.3d 306 |
| Parties | STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Everett A. FEES, Defendant-Respondent. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Kenneth K. Jorgensen argued.
Frederick G. Loats, Coeur d'Alene, for respondent. Frederick G. Loats argued.
The district court held that a telephonic search warrant was invalid because the magistrate judge did not sign an original of the warrant when he authorized a peace officer to affix the magistrate's signature to a duplicate original of the warrant. The district court also held that a warrantless entry into a residence to preserve evidence of the felony crime of trafficking in marijuana was invalid because it was done before the search warrant hearing and to preserve evidence of a nonviolent crime. The State appealed, and we hold that the district court erred in granting the motion to suppress on those grounds. We therefore vacate the order and remand for further proceedings.
A state and federal law enforcement investigation led authorities to suspect that defendant-respondent Everett A. Fees was distributing a substantial amount of marijuana from his residence in Hayden, Idaho. Much of the information came from an informant in Montana who told police that he had been purchasing marijuana from Fees once or twice a month for two years and that he usually purchased five pounds at a time. He stated that he usually met Fees at his house or restaurant and that Fees said he stored the marijuana in his basement. The Informant agreed to make a controlled buy of marijuana from Fees.
On Wednesday, February 13, 2002, the Informant telephoned Fees to arrange to purchase five pounds of marijuana. Fees stated that he would travel to Eugene, Oregon, to obtain the marijuana from his supplier and that the Informant must pay in advance. They arranged to meet the same day at the Wal Mart store in Sandpoint, Idaho. Prior to that meeting, the police gave the Informant $6,500 in $20 bills, which the police had photocopied to record their serial numbers. Idaho State Police Detective Terry Morgan then used binoculars to observe the Informant's meeting with Fees and recorded the meeting with a video camera and an audio transmitter that was attached to the Informant. During the meeting, the Informant gave Fees the $6,500, and Fees said that he would fly to Portland, Oregon, that day and be back by Saturday.
Police kept Fees under surveillance as he traveled from the meeting with the Informant to the airport in Spokane, Washington. While en route, Fees exchanged the $20 bills for $100 bills. The police confirmed that the serial numbers of the bills Fees exchanged matched the serial numbers of the bills given to the Informant. Fees then boarded a flight to Portland, carrying his briefcase.
In Portland, a federal narcotics agent followed Fees. He observed Fees rent a car and drive to a house in Eugene, where a woman gave Fees a two-foot by two-foot box wrapped in red paper. Fees placed the box in the trunk of the car and then drove to a local bar, where he picked up two men. He then drove to a motel, where he and the two men checked into a room, taking the red box with them. After about thirty minutes, they left the room with the box, but it had been unwrapped. Federal agents later searched the motel room, and they discovered red wrapping paper in the trash can, cellophane wrap that smelled like marijuana, and some stems from marijuana plants. Fees drove back to the house in Eugene, where he talked with the woman for about five minutes, and then drove to a motel where he spent the night. Early the next morning, Fees went to the airport and flew back to Spokane. His wife picked him up at the airport and drove to their house in Hayden, where they entered the house with Fees carrying his briefcase.
The next day on Friday, Detective Morgan observed Fees load a half-full, black, apparently heavy garbage bag into a car registered to his brother-in-law and then deliver that bag to a house in Spokane. He later drove to the Spokane airport and purchased a round-trip ticket to Portland that left that day and returned on Sunday. When Fees arrived in Portland, he rented a car, and in the rental application he stated that he would return the car to the Spokane airport on Sunday.
At 11:00 a.m., on Saturday, a State Police officer saw Fees arrive at his residence and then watched Fees and his wife remove two boxes and the briefcase from the car and carry them into the house. Detective Morgan then telephoned the Informant who, in turn, telephoned Fees. Fees stated that the Informant's five pounds of marijuana had arrived and asked whether the Informant wanted an additional two pounds that they had previously discussed. The Informant answered that he would like the additional marijuana, and they arranged to meet that evening at Fees's restaurant.
At 11:15 a.m., the police observed Fees load a large box and his briefcase into the trunk of the rental car and drive away from his house. After Fees had driven out of sight from his house, the police stopped and arrested him. The police impounded the car pursuant to established procedure.
After Fees's arrest, the police observed a female jogger talking with a woman who had stopped her car near Fees's residence, and they saw a woman pushing an empty baby stroller talk with Fees's wife and enter his house. At about noon, fearing that Fees's wife may have learned of his arrest and may attempt to destroy evidence, the police entered Fees's house to secure it while waiting for a search warrant. They searched for and removed the occupants and prevented anyone from entering the house. Some of the officers observed evidence of a marijuana growing and distribution operation while in the house. They were in the house from four to six minutes, except for one officer who remained in the house for about ten minutes while waiting for Fees's wife to get dressed.
At 1:00 p.m., Detective Morgan sought a search warrant from a magistrate judge. He did not appear before the magistrate, but testified by telephone. At the conclusion of the hearing, the magistrate approved a search of Fees's house, restaurant, and vehicles and the rental car, and he authorized the detective to sign the magistrate's name to the search warrant. The magistrate himself did not personally sign the search warrant. The officers then executed the search warrant.
On February 19, 2002, the State filed a criminal complaint charging Fees with trafficking in marijuana. On April 24, 2002, Fees waived his right to a preliminary hearing, and he was bound over in the district court to answer to the felony offense of trafficking in marijuana. On April 25, 2002, Fees filed a motion seeking to suppress all evidence obtained by the police during the traffic stop, the entry and later search of his house, and his post-arrest interrogation. On November 15 and 21, 2002, the district court heard the motion to suppress, and on January 22, 2003, it issued its memorandum opinion and order granting the motion in part. The district court held that the search warrant was invalid because the magistrate did not sign another original of the warrant after authorizing the detective to sign the magistrate's name to the original warrant in the detective's possession. As a result, the court ordered that all evidence obtained during the search of the residence must be suppressed. The district judge also ordered that any evidence obtained during the entry to secure the residence be suppressed because the warrant was invalid and the entry was made before the warrant was issued. The district court denied the remainder of the motion to suppress. The State then appealed.
A. Was the search warrant invalid because the magistrate did not personally sign an original copy of the warrant in addition to authorizing the law enforcement officer to sign the magistrate's name to an original copy?
B. Did the warrantless entry into Fees's house to secure it while waiting to obtain a search warrant require suppression of evidence obtained during such entry?
When we review an order granting or denying a motion to suppress, we accept the trial court's factual findings, unless they are clearly erroneous. State v. McCall, 135 Idaho 885, 26 P.3d 1222 (2001). We exercise free review, however, over the trial court's determination of whether or not those facts require suppression of the evidence. Id.
A. Was the Search Warrant Invalid Because the Magistrate Did Not Personally Sign an Original Copy of the Warrant in Addition to Authorizing the Law Enforcement Officer to Sign the Magistrate's Name to an Original Copy?
The district court held that the warrant issued in this case was invalid because the magistrate allegedly violated Idaho Code § 19-4406 by failing to personally sign a second original warrant. That statute provides:
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State v. Adamcik
...or denying a motion to suppress, we accept the trial court's factual findings, unless they are clearly erroneous." State v. Fees, 140 Idaho 81, 84, 90P.3d 306, 309 (2004). "However, free review is exercised over a trial court's determination as to whether constitutional requirements have be......
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State v. Adamcik
...or denying a motion to suppress, we accept the trial court's factual findings, unless they are clearly erroneous." State v. Fees, 140 Idaho 81, 84, 90 P.3d 306, 309 (2004). "However, free review is exercised over a trial court's determination as to whether constitutional requirements have b......
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Rideout v. State
...courts4 have concluded that the distinction should be whether an offense is "jailable" or "non-jailable." See State v. Fees, 140 Idaho 81, 90 P.3d 306, 312-14 (Idaho 2004); City of Middletown v. Flinchum, 95 Ohio St.3d 43, 765 N.E.2d 330, 332 (2002); State v. Legg, 633 N.W.2d 763, 773 (Iowa......