State v. Hazelwood

• Decision Date: 03 December 1993
• Docket Number: No. S-5311,S-5311
• Citation: 866 P.2d 827
• Parties: STATE of Alaska, Petitioner, v. Joseph J. HAZELWOOD, Respondent.
• Court: Alaska Supreme Court

Page 827

866 P.2d 827

STATE of Alaska, Petitioner, v. Joseph J. HAZELWOOD, Respondent.

No. S-5311.

Supreme Court of Alaska.

Dec. 3, 1993.

Cynthia M. Hora, Asst. Atty. Gen., Richard W. Maki, Asst. Atty. Gen., Anchorage, Charles E. Cole, Atty. Gen., Juneau, for petitioner.

Richard H. Friedman and Jeffrey K. Rubin, Friedman & Rubin, Anchorage, Michael G. Chalos, Thomas Russo, Chalos, English & Brown, New York City, and Dick L. Madson, Fairbanks, for respondent.

Before MOORE, C.J., and RABINOWITZ, MATTHEWS, and COMPTON, JJ.

OPINION

RABINOWITZ, Justice.

This petition for hearing presents essentially two issues: (1) whether as a matter of federal law the State demonstrated that it had an independent source for the evidence it introduced against Captain Joseph Hazelwood at his criminal trial; and (2) whether as a matter of federal law use and derivative use immunity granted under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5), is subject to an inevitable discovery exception.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS

On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground off Bligh Reef, spilling eleven million gallons of oil into Prince William Sound. The captain of the tanker, Joseph J. Hazelwood (Hazelwood), radioed the Coast Guard approximately twenty minutes after the grounding and stated:

Yeah, ah Valdez back, ah we've, should be on your radar there, we've fetched up ah hard aground, north of Goose Island, off Bligh Reef, and ah evidently leaking some oil and we're gonna be here for awhile and ah, if you want ah, so you're notified, over.

Subsequently, the State charged Hazelwood with several crimes related to the grounding. Hazelwood moved to dismiss the charges and suppress evidence, arguing that all of the State's evidence was derived either directly or indirectly from his notification, and that its admission violated the immunity granted by 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5) and the principles of Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972).

The superior court denied Hazelwood's motions, accepting the State's arguments that (1) 46 U.S.C. § 6101, the marine casualty reporting statute, and its implementing regulation constituted a separate and independent source for the State's evidence; and (2) the evidence used by the State would have been inevitably discovered. A jury subsequently convicted Hazelwood of negligent discharge of oil. The court of appeals reversed Hazelwood's conviction, holding as a matter of law that the marine casualty statute and regulation did not constitute an independent source for the State's evidence and that the inevitable discovery doctrine was inapplicable in the context of a congressionally enacted grant of immunity. Hazelwood v. State, 836 P.2d 943 (Alaska App.1992). We subsequently granted the State's petition for hearing as to both the independent source and inevitable discovery rulings.

DISCUSSION

A. Protection from Prosecution Provided

by 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5). ¹

The federal reporting requirement for oil and hazardous substance discharges, 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5), includes a statutory grant of immunity from criminal prosecution. At the time of Hazelwood's offense, the statute provided for both use and derivative use immunity: ²

Any person in charge of a vessel or of an onshore facility or an offshore facility shall, as soon as he has knowledge of any discharge of oil or a hazardous substance from such vessel or facility in violation of paragraph (3) of this subsection, immediately notify the appropriate agency of the United States Government of such discharge. Any such person ... who fails to notify immediately such agency of such discharge shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. Notification received pursuant to this paragraph or information obtained by the exploitation of such notification shall not be used against any such person in any criminal case, except a prosecution for perjury or for giving a false statement.

33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5) (1988) (amended 1990) (emphasis added). ³ Hazelwood argues that by admitting evidence that he notified the Coast Guard about the spill, and by admitting evidence derived from this notification, the superior court violated this statutory grant of immunity.

B. Applicability of the Independent Source Doctrine.

The State argues that the evidence admitted was obtained through a source independent of Hazelwood's notification, and thus was not subject to exclusion. The U.S. Supreme Court has explicitly recognized that a statutory grant of use and derivative use immunity, like the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination, "allow[s] the government to prosecute using evidence from legitimate independent sources." Kastigar v. United States, 406 U.S. 441, 461, 92 S.Ct. 1653, 1665, 32 L.Ed.2d 212 (1972) (emphasis added). However, once a defendant shows that he or she testified under a statutory grant of immunity, the burden shifts to the prosecution "to prove that the evidence it proposes to use is derived from a legitimate source wholly independent of the compelled testimony." Id. at 460, 92 S.Ct. at 1665. We must determine, then, whether the State has met its burden of proving that the evidence admitted against Hazelwood was obtained from a source wholly independent of the notification compelled by the statute.

The State argues that upon grounding the Exxon Valdez, Hazelwood incurred two separate legal reporting duties. Under the oil spill statute, 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5), he was required to report that he was discharging oil. Under the marine casualties reporting statute, 46 U.S.C. § 6101, ⁴ and its implementing regulations, he was required to report that the ship had grounded. The marine casualty statute and regulations also require that the person making the report provide additional information, such as the identity and location of the ship. 46 C.F.R. § 4.05-1, -5 (1992).

Parsing Hazelwood's radio transmission, the State argues that only one part of it is protected under the grant of immunity. According to the State, Hazelwood's statement that the tanker "evidently [was] leaking some oil" was sufficient to fulfill his obligation under the oil spill statute. This statement, the State concedes, is covered by the statute's immunity clause. The State argues, however, that any additional information provided by Hazelwood, specifically "we've fetched up ah hard aground north of Goose Island, off Bligh Reef," was reported pursuant to the marine casualty statute, and thus amounted to a source of evidence wholly independent of the immunized statement. ⁵

We cannot accept the State's arguments. As noted by the court of appeals, the State's argument rests on the premise that, under the oil spill reporting statute, Hazelwood was required to report nothing more than the fact that his ship was discharging oil. Hazelwood v. State, 836 P.2d 943, 948 (Alaska App.1992). Interpreting the statute to require no more than this would be unreasonable. Congress initially enacted the oil spill statute as part of legislation designed to improve the nation's water quality. ⁶ Viewed in light of this overall purpose, the notification process required by the statute must be construed to require that regulatory officials be provided with adequate information, such as the location of the spill, so that they may begin immediate remedial measures. Thus we decline to hold that Hazelwood's statement concerning the location of the vessel was made solely to comply with the marine casualty statute and therefore provided an independent source.

Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court clearly stated in Kastigar that the government must "prove that the evidence it proposes to use is derived from a legitimate source wholly independent " of the immunized statement. 406 U.S. at 460, 92 S.Ct. at 1665 (emphasis added). In this case, there is only one source: Hazelwood's single radio transmission made shortly after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef. The State asks us to accept the contention that Hazelwood's radioed statement to the Coast Guard was immunized at one point and an independent source at another. The initial report cannot be divided: it was a single radio transmission made shortly after the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef. We cannot accept this argument in the face of Kastigar 's requirement that the independent source be "wholly independent" from the immunized source. We therefore AFFIRM this aspect of the court of appeals' decision.

C. The Application of the Inevitable Discovery Doctrine Under 33 U.S.C. § 1321(b)(5).

Alternatively, the State argues that the evidence admitted against Hazelwood at trial was admissible under the inevitable discovery doctrine. ⁷ The United States Supreme Court recognized the inevitable discovery doctrine in Nix v. Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 104 S.Ct. 2501, 81 L.Ed.2d 377 (1984). The doctrine is an exception to the exclusionary rule ⁸ in cases where evidence has been obtained in violation of constitutional protections such as the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. ⁹ The doctrine is essentially a variation on the independent source rule, except that the question is not whether the police actually obtained evidence from an untainted source, but whether evidence obtained through a constitutional violation would inevitably have been discovered through a lawful means. 4 Wayne R. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 11.4(a), at 378 (2d ed. 1987).

The Supreme Court noted that the "core rationale" for the exclusionary rule is "to deter police from violations of constitutional and statutory protections." Nix, 467 U.S. at 442-43, 104 S.Ct. at 2508. "On this rationale, the prosecution is not to be put in a better position than it would have been in if no illegality had transpired." Id. at 443, 104 S.Ct. at 2508. However, the rule is not meant to put the prosecution in a position worse than if no police misconduct occurred....