State v. Kriley

• Decision Date: 21 July 1998
• Docket Number: No. WD,WD
• Citation: 976 S.W.2d 16
• Parties: STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Christina A. KRILEY, Respondent. 55397.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 16

976 S.W.2d 16

STATE of Missouri, Appellant, v. Christina A. KRILEY, Respondent.

No. WD 55397.

Missouri Court of Appeals Western District.

July 21, 1998.

W. Brent Powell, Asst. Pros. Atty., Platte City, MO, for Appellant.

Mark M. Ferguson, N. Kansas City, MO, for Respondent.

Before HANNA, P.J., and LAURA DENVIR STITH and EDWIN H. SMITH, JJ.

EDWIN H. SMITH, Judge.

The State of Missouri, pursuant to § 547.200, ¹ appeals the judgment of the circuit court sustaining the motion of Christina A. Kriley, respondent, to suppress evidence. The respondent stands charged in the Circuit Court of Platte County with the class B felony of attempting to manufacture a controlled substance, methamphetamine, in violation of § 195.211, and the class D felony of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, in violation of § 568.045.

In its sole point on appeal, the State claims that the trial court erred in sustaining the respondent's motion to suppress evidence pursuant to the "exclusionary rule," because the warrantless seizure of the methamphetamine by the drug task force officers did not violate her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in that they were lawfully inside the structure attached to the residence when the methamphetamine was found in plain view.

We affirm.

Facts

On March 31, 1997, a Platte County deputy sheriff discovered several abandoned trash bags on 45 Highway and I-435 in Platte County, Missouri. The bags contained, inter alia, rubber tubing; cat litter; and empty cans of acetone, Naphtha and Coleman fuel, all of which are products commonly used in the manufacture of methamphetamine. Also discovered in one of the trash bags was an envelope which appeared to be a pager bill addressed to: Jimmy James, 7603 NW 144th Street, Platte City, Missouri.

On April 3, 1997, Drug Enforcement Agency Task Force officers, David Kissee of the Platte County Sheriff's Department and James Morgan of the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, went to the residence located at 7603 NW 144th Street to speak with its residents about the items that were recovered from the trash bags and to verify the current residence of Jimmy James. Due to a large canine chained near the front entry of the residence, Deputy Kissee and Officer Morgan went to the rear of the residence, looking for an alternate entry. Once at the rear, they found a structure attached to the residence which enclosed an inner door which continued into the residence.

The structure was approximately five feet by twelve feet, enclosed by a roof and four walls. It had no door. One exterior wall was made of concrete, brick, wood and glass. Another exterior wall was shingled and painted in the same manner as the exterior of the main house. The roof and flashing were continuous between the main portion of the house and the structure. There were numerous items in the structure, including a freezer, insulation and car parts. The structure appeared to be wired for electricity and was apparently being used by the residents.

Rather than knocking on the entry to the structure, Deputy Kissee and Officer Morgan entered the structure, uninvited and without any exigent circumstances, and knocked on the inner door located inside. As Officer Morgan was knocking, Deputy Kissee observed a clear glass mason jar containing a white powdery substance. The jar was located on the top of a freezer inside the structure.

Deputy Kissee alerted Officer Morgan to the jar. They both smelled it and agreed that the odor emanating from it was a scent they both knew through their training and experience to be associated with methamphetamine. Deputy Kissee removed the lid of the jar; removed a small portion of the white powdery substance and placed it on a sheet of paper; and then placed the jar in its original position to prevent the residents from discovering that they had been there. Deputy Kissee placed the sample that had been removed from the jar into a field test packet, which gave a presumptive positive indication for the presence of an amphetamine-based narcotic. When no one came to the door and no one appeared to be inside the residence, the officers photographed the area and left.

Based on the methamphetamine seized on April 3, 1997, the Honorable James W. Van Amburg, Associate Circuit Judge of the Circuit Court of Platte County, issued a search warrant for the residence located at 7603 NW 144th Street on April 6, 1997. On April 7, 1997, at approximately 9:30 p.m., agents of the Platte County Sheriff's Department attempted to execute the search warrant. While the agents were en route, Deputy Matt Dodson, who was conducting surveillance at the residence, observed a man on the front porch of the house holding a rifle with a scope. The attempt to serve the warrant on that date was abandoned.

On April 8, 1997, at approximately 5:30 p.m., the Platte County Sheriff's Department executed the search warrant on the residence. Found inside the house were the respondent and her eight-month-old child. Also found inside the residence was an operating methamphetamine laboratory, along with anhydrous ammonia, red phosphorous, iodine crystals, ephedrine, Coleman fuel, Red Devil lye, Pyrex plates, glassware, flasks, rubber tubing and other items used in the manufacture of methamphetamine.

The respondent was arrested and Mirandized, after which she confessed to having assisted Jimmy James with the manufacture of methamphetamine at the residence and having fed, clothed and slept with her young child in the room of the residence where the laboratory operated. On April 30, 1997, a two-count indictment was filed in the Platte County Circuit Court charging the respondent with the class B felony of attempting to manufacture a controlled substance § 195.211, and the class D felony of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, § 568.045.

On December 26, 1997, the respondent filed a motion to suppress the methamphetamine seized without a warrant and the other items seized pursuant to the search warrant on April 8, 1997. On January 7, 1998, a hearing on the respondent's motion to suppress was held by the Honorable Ward B. Stuckey in the Circuit Court of Platte County. After hearing evidence and the arguments of the parties, the trial court sustained the respondent's motion.

This appeal follows.

Standard of Review

Our "review of a trial court's ruling on a motion to suppress is limited to a determination of sufficiency of the evidence to sustain the trial court's finding." State v. Cook, 854 S.W.2d 579, 581 (Mo.App.1993) (citing State v. Villa-Perez, 835 S.W.2d 897, 902 (Mo. banc 1992)). We will affirm the judgment of the trial court if there is sufficient evidence which would support the trial court's decision to sustain the motion to suppress on any ground alleged in the respondent's motion. State v. Duke, 924 S.W.2d 588, 589 (Mo.App.1996). We will only reverse the trial court's judgment if it is clearly erroneous. Cook, 854 S.W.2d at 581 (citing State v. Milliorn, 794 S.W.2d 181, 183 (Mo. banc 1990)). The trial court's judgment is clearly erroneous if we are left with the definite and firm belief that a mistake has been made. State v. Johnson, 901 S.W.2d 60, 62 (Mo. banc 1995).

We will defer to the trial court's findings of fact, but make an independent evaluation of the conclusions of law the trial court draws from its factual findings. Porter v. Falknor, 895 S.W.2d 187, 189 (Mo.App.1995) (citations omitted); see also State v. Smith, 346 N.C. 794, 488 S.E.2d 210, 212 (1997). Where there is no dispute as to the underlying facts, the determination of the reasonableness of a search and seizure, under the Fourth Amendment, is a question of law. State v. Kovach, 839 S.W.2d 303, 307 (Mo.App.1992) (quoting Milliorn, 794 S.W.2d at 184). We will view the evidence in the light most favorable to the decision of the trial court even though we may have weighed the evidence differently. Cook, 854 S.W.2d at 581 (citing Milliorn, 794 S.W.2d at 184). When there is conflicting evidence, we will defer to the trial court's determination regarding the credibility of the witnesses, accepting or rejecting all, part, or none of the testimony it hears. Cook, 854 S.W.2d at 581 (citing Villa-Perez, 835 S.W.2d at 902). "If the trial court's ruling 'is plausible in light of the record viewed in its entirety,' [the] court 'may not reverse it even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently.' " Kovach, 839 S.W.2d at 307 (quoting Milliorn, 794 S.W.2d at 184).

I.

The State claims that the trial court erred in sustaining the respondent's motion to suppress evidence because the seizure of the methamphetamine by the task force officers did not violate her Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures in that they were lawfully inside the structure attached to the residence when the methamphetamine was found in plain view. In making this claim below, the burden was on the State to show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the search was legal and the motion to suppress should be denied. Duke, 924 S.W.2d at 589.

The respondent makes a two-fold argument as to the State's claim that the seizure of the methamphetamine was lawful, both involving the parameters of a plain view seizure. The plain view doctrine provides that anything an individual knowingly exposes to public view, even in his or her own home, involves no reasonable expectation of privacy and is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. State v. Akers, 723 S.W.2d 9, 14 (Mo.App.1986) (citing Texas v. Brown, 460 U.S. 730, 741, 103 S.Ct. 1535, 75 L.Ed.2d 502 (1983); Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351, 88 S.Ct. 507, 19 L.Ed.2d 576 (1967)). The appellant first contends that the task force officers were not lawfully inside the structure where the seizure occurred, invalidating their warrantless...