State v. Heiner, 83-83

• Citation: 683 P.2d 629
• Decision Date: 15 May 1984
• Docket Number: No. 83-83,83-83
• Parties: The STATE of Wyoming, Petitioner, v. Deon F. HEINER, Respondent.
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 629

683 P.2d 629

The STATE of Wyoming, Petitioner, v. Deon F. HEINER, Respondent.

No. 83-83.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

May 15, 1984.

A.G. McClintock, Atty. Gen., Gerald A. Stack, Deputy Atty. Gen., Allen C. Johnson, Sr. Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael L. Hubbard, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Roy D. Adcock, Lincoln County Atty., for petitioner.

Ted C. Frome and Gerald L. Goulding of Frome & Goulding, Afton, for respondent.

Before ROONEY, C.J., and THOMAS, ROSE, BROWN and CARDINE, JJ.

THOMAS, Justice.

In this instance this court is urged to address the question of its authority to review, pursuant to a writ of certiorari, a ruling of a trial court granting a motion to suppress evidence in a criminal case. If the authority is present we then are asked by the State of Wyoming to determine whether an inventory of personal property claimed to have been destroyed in a fire should be suppressed in a case involving charges of arson and arson with intent to injure and defraud an insurance company. We also must address a pretrial ruling by the district court which would impose upon the State the burden of demonstrating the reasonableness under constitutional standards of the seizure of evidence obtained at the scene of the fire by investigators employed by the fire insurance company. The district court granted the motion to suppress the evidence in the form of an unsworn inventory of personal property furnished to a fire insurance adjuster, and informed the prosecuting attorney of his responsibility to demonstrate the reasonableness of the seizure of evidence. The State of Wyoming sought review of these pretrial rulings pursuant to a petition for writ of certiorari. It is our conclusion that this court does have the authority and responsibility to review such pretrial rulings by trial judges in the exercise of its discretion. The facts and the law disclose that the rulings of the trial court were erroneous, and we therefore will reverse those rulings.

On December 22, 1982, a criminal complaint was filed in the justice of the peace court in Lincoln County, charging Deon Heiner with arson in violation of § 6-7-101, W.S.1977, ¹ and with arson with intent to defraud his insurer in violation of § 6-7-105, W.S.1977. ² Deon Heiner then was arrested pursuant to a warrant issued upon the criminal complaint, and on January 11, 13 and 14, 1983, a full-blown preliminary examination was held before the justice of the peace. At the conclusion of that preliminary examination the justice of the peace found that there was probable cause to believe that the crimes alleged in the complaint had been committed and that the defendant had committed those crimes.

On February 15, 1983, the transcript of the justice of the peace proceedings was filed in the district court, and on February 22, 1983, an Information was filed in the district court which was substantially identical to the criminal complaint earlier filed. The case then was set for arraignment on February 28, 1983, and on February 22 "Comes now the Defendant herein and moves the court to suppress all evidence gathered by the agents and employees of Farmers Insurance Company, and by officers and employees of the State of Wyoming after the time that the State received a tip on their hot line that the fire at the home of Defendant was caused by arson until Defendant was read his 'Meranda' [sic] Rights for the reason that from that moment on, the Defendant was a suspect for that crime.

1983, an order was entered pursuant to which the matter was reset for March 21, 1983, at the request of defense counsel. On March 22, 1983, the court set the case for pretrial conference to be held on May 2, 1983, and on that same date the defendant filed a Motion to Suppress Evidence and Limit Comment Thereon, stating:

"In the alternative, should the court deny the above motion, then Defendant moves the court to strike all evidence gained as a result of a taped interview with Cheryl Heiner, the wife of the Defendant, taken on December 30, 1982, by Deputy Fire Marshall, Tim Reikofski, and for an order limiting any comment in that interview at the trial of this matter; and,

"The Defendant moves the court for an order suppressing as evidence a list of personal property given by Defendant to Gerald Hansen, an insurance adjuster employed by Farmers Insurance Co.; and an order limiting any comment on that list at the trial of this case."

On April 4, 1983, a hearing was held by the court to deal with the Motion to Suppress Evidence and Limit Comment Thereon, and because of the unavailability of witnesses due to the weather that hearing was continued to May 11, 1983. On May 16, 1983, the court entered its Order Suppressing Evidence which provided in pertinent part as follows:

"It is hereby ORDERED and DECREED that:

"1. Defendant's motion to suppress the list of household items and other items given by Deon Heiner to Gerald Hansen is granted and the list shall not be received and admitted into evidence and no testimony or comment shall be received respecting the same, and the list is hereby suppressed, said list being identified in Plaintiff's Pretrial Memorandum as Exhibits 76 through 87.

"2. Before being admitted into evidence, any other exhibit that makes reference to Plaintiff's Exhibits 76 through 87 shall have the material that makes reference to Plaintiff's Exhibits 76 through 87 blocked out from the Exhibit so as to not be visible to the jury.

"3. Defendant's motion to suppress all other evidence is denied without prejudice."

In the meantime the State had filed a Motion in Limine which sought an order

"directing the defense counsel not to examine the following State's witnesses as to whether or not said witnesses gave the defendant Miranda warnings prior to their interviews of the defendant:

"Jerald Hansen

Greg Cline

Brent Halladay

Lynn Borg

"Plaintiff states that inquiry in the matters sought to be excluded would be both immaterial and irrelevant to the case in that the witnesses were not police officials and were acting on behalf of Farmers Insurance Group, and such inquiry by defense counsel would tend to confuse the jury. Moreover, the interviews were non-custodial."

This motion was denied by the court.

On May 17, 1983, the case was reset for trial on June 13, 1983, and on May 20, 1983, a Petition for Writ of Review, or Writ of Prohibition, or Writ of Certiorari, or Writ of Mandamus was filed in this court by the State of Wyoming. On May 25, 1983, an Order Granting Writ of Certiorari was entered in this court and the Writ of Certiorari issued to the trial court. Pursuant to the Order Granting Writ of Certiorari further proceedings in the district court were stayed until the disposition of the case on certiorari.

In its brief to this court the State of Wyoming presents its statement of the issues as follows:

"I. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN SUPPRESSING THE INVENTORY SHEETS VOLUNTARILY GIVEN BY THE DEFENDANT TO THE INSURANCE ADJUSTOR THREE DAYS AFTER THE FIRE, ON THE BASIS OF ENTRAPMENT OR FAILURE TO PROVIDE MIRANDA WARNINGS?

"II. DID THE TRIAL COURT ERR IN IMPLICITLY HOLDING THAT THE FOURTH AMENDMENT WAS APPLICABLE TO THE SEARCH AND SEIZURES ACCOMPLISHED BY PRIVATE INSURANCE INVESTIGATORS, AND THEREBY REQUIRING THE STATE TO SHOW THE REASONABLENESS OF THE SEIZURES AS A FOUNDATIONAL PREREQUISITE TO ADMISSIBILITY?"

The defendant articulates the issues to be dealt with in this way in his brief:

"1. Does the Supreme Court have jurisdiction to hear this appeal?

"2. If it does, should it decline to hear such cases on general policy grounds?

"3. Should the Supreme Court overturn the Trial Court's Order on suppression of evidence?

"4. Should the investigative employees of Farmers Insurance Exchange be treated like police officers and should their conduct in gathering information be held to the same standards as that required of police officers of the State of Wyoming?"

The threshold question of the authority of this court to review these evidentiary rulings by the trial court pursuant to a writ of certiorari is settled in principle by the decision of this court in City of Laramie v. Mengel, Wyo., 671 P.2d 340 (1983). In the instant case the rulings of the district court suppressed a list of personal property claimed to have been destroyed or damaged in the fire which was furnished by the defendant to an adjuster employed by the fire insurance company and required the State to justify under constitutional standards the reasonableness of the seizure of evidence such as photographs, burned wire, and a sample of a chemical substance from the scene of the fire by investigators employed by the fire insurance company. In this regard we note that the essence of the ruling by the municipal judges in City of Laramie v. Mengel, supra, was that evidence of a refusal by an accused person to submit to a chemical test to determine blood alcohol content was not admissible at the trial of the case. We did note in City of Laramie v. Mengel, supra, that review pursuant to the statutes providing for a bill of exceptions was not available to the city. In that opinion we quoted language from Call v. Town of Afton, 73 Wyo. 271, 278 P.2d 270 (1954), in which the court observed in substance that the writ of certiorari subserves a good purpose in instances in which an appeal (or a bill of exceptions) is not plain, speedy and adequate. With respect to rulings which suppress important evidence to be offered by the State in a criminal prosecution the inadequacy of the bill of exceptions after an acquittal is patent. We then would simply add to the authorities cited in City of Laramie v. Mengel, supra, references to State v. Johnson, Tenn., 569 S.W.2d 808 (1978); State v. McCormick, Tenn.Cr.App., 584 S.W.2d 821 (1979); State v. Bradfield, 29 Wash.App. 679, 630 P.2d 494 (1981); and State v. Chatmon, 9 Wash.App. 741, 515 P.2d 530 (1973). In these several cases the respective courts recognized the propriety of a writ of...