State v. Pruss

• Decision Date: 27 March 2008
• Docket Number: No. 33617.,33617.
• Citation: 181 P.3d 1231,145 Idaho 623
• Parties: STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David PRUSS, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

181 P.3d 1231

145 Idaho 623

STATE of Idaho, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. David PRUSS, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 33617.

Supreme Court of Idaho, Boise, March 2008 Term.

March 27, 2008.

Hon. Lawrence G. Wasden, Attorney General, Boise, for appellant. Ralph R. Blount argued.

Molly J. Huskey, State Appellate Public Defender, Boise, for respondent. Sara B. Thomas argued.

EISMANN, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from an order suppressing evidence obtained from the warrantless search of a "hooch" constructed by the Defendant on public forest lands. We hold that the district court did not err in holding that the Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his hooch and that the search cannot be justified as incident to his lawful arrest where it occurred after he had been arrested, handcuffed, and removed from the scene.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

During the summer of 2005, the Clearwater County sheriff's department was investigating a series of burglaries and property damage crimes. The damaged property included logging equipment and public utility facilities that had been shot with a high-powered rifle and a handgun. Sheriff deputies learned from confidential informants that the person responsible was one David Pruss (Pruss), that he was armed with a .357 caliber handgun and a MAK-90 semi-automatic rifle, and that he talked about shooting public utilities facilities in order to draw law enforcement personnel so he could ambush them. According to the informants, Pruss was living in a "hooch" in the forest.

Based upon the information obtained during the investigation, the State filed a complaint on July 12, 2005, charging Pruss with felony crimes of malicious injury to property and burglary. On the same date, a warrant was issued for Pruss's arrest, with bond set in the amount of $150,000.

A house near the site of the vandalized logging equipment had been burglarized twice, with coffee being stolen. In an attempt to locate Pruss, a deputy put a transmitter in a coffee can at the home. The can was stolen in another burglary, and on August 30, 2005, a group of eight to ten deputies tracked the signal to a steep, heavily-wooded ravine adjacent to the logging site. There they found a frame structure camouflaged with tree branches that was about six feet square and three to five feet high. The frame was made of sections of limbs or small trees that were lashed together. The frame was covered by a plastic blue tarp, which was then covered by the tree boughs. A backpacking tent was erected inside the wooden frame, which extended a few feet beyond the front of the tent to form a small vestibule. For simplicity, the word "hooch" will be used to refer to both the tent and wooden structure.

When they approached the hooch, deputies could hear noise coming from inside it.¹ One deputy ordered the occupant to come out, and when there was no response he fired two rounds of CS gas into the hooch. The deputy moved closer and saw someone partially exposed at the hooch's doorway. He ordered the person to come out and show his hands, and the person began crawling out. As he was doing so, the deputy could see a MAK-90 rifle lying on the tent floor near the person's leg. When the person was about halfway out of the hooch, he paused and appeared about to re-enter it. The deputy then forced him to the ground and ordered him not to move. When other officers covered the person, the deputy handcuffed him, searched him for weapons, and then had him stand up outside the structure. The person turned out to be Pruss. The deputies immediately escorted Pruss to an all terrain vehicle, which they used to transport him out of the ravine up to a nearby road. He was then put in a patrol car and taken to jail. After deputies had removed Pruss from the scene, other deputies searched the hooch without a warrant.

On March 21, 2006, the State filed an amended criminal complaint charging Pruss with twenty-one felonies and fourteen misdemeanors. After a preliminary hearing, Pruss was bound over to answer to the charges in district court.

On June 6, Pruss moved to suppress the items obtained from the search of the hooch on the ground that the warrantless search and seizure violated the Constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Idaho. The State contended that Pruss did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the hooch; that the search was incident to a lawful arrest; that the portability of the hooch removed it from protection of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article 1, § 17, of the Idaho Constitution; and that the MAK-90 rifle and coffee can were lawfully seized because they were in plain view. After an evidentiary hearing, the district court held that the search and seizure violated the Fourth Amendment and ordered all of the items seized suppressed from evidence. The State then timely appealed.

II. ISSUES ON APPEAL

1. Did Pruss have a reasonable expectation of privacy in his hooch?

2. Were the MAK-90 rifle and the coffee can seized as part of a lawful search incident to Pruss's arrest?

III. ANALYSIS

Pruss alleged in his motion to suppress that the search of his hooch violated both Article 1, § 17, of the Idaho Constitution and the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. The district court based its decision upon the Fourth Amendment and did not address the Idaho Constitution. The guarantee against unreasonable search and seizure under Article 1, § 17, is substantially similar to the guarantee under the Fourth Amendment, although this Court has at times construed the provisions of our Constitution to grant greater protection than that afforded under the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the federal Constitution. State v. Fees, 140 Idaho 81, 88, 90 P.3d 306, 313 (2004). Because Pruss relied upon the provisions of both Constitutions, our opinion in this case is based upon both the Idaho and federal Constitutions.

"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. We exercise free review, however, over the trial court's determination of whether or not those facts require suppression of the evidence." Fees, 140 Idaho at 84, 90 P.3d at 309 (citations omitted).

A. Did Pruss Have a Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in His Hooch?

A person challenging a search has the burden of showing that he or she had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the item or place searched. Rawlings v. Kentucky, 448 U.S. 98, 104, 100 S.Ct. 2556, 65 L.Ed.2d 633, 641 (1980); State v. Cowen, 104 Idaho 649, 651, 662 P.2d 230, 232 (1983). That involves a two-part inquiry: (1) Did the person have a subjective expectation of privacy in the object of the challenged search? and (2) Is society willing to recognize that expectation as reasonable? California v. Ciraolo, 476 U.S. 207, 211, 106 S.Ct. 1809, 1811-12, 90 L.Ed.2d 210, 215-16 (1986); State v. Donato, 135 Idaho 469, 473, 20 P.3d 5, 9 (2001).

The first inquiry under the two-part test is an issue of fact. Did Pruss have a subjective expectation of privacy in his hooch? The district court found that he did. That finding is supported by substantial and competent evidence. Pruss attempted to camouflage his hooch so that it would not be readily observable. More significantly, one can certainly infer that a person has a subjective expectation of privacy in his dwelling, even if it is a temporary structure like a tent, travel trailer, or the hooch in this case.

The second inquiry is an issue of law. Is society willing to recognize Pruss's expectation of privacy as being reasonable? Stated differently, "the correct inquiry is whether the government's intrusion infringes upon the personal and societal values protected by the Fourth Amendment." Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 182-83, 104 S.Ct. 1735, 1743, 80 L.Ed.2d 214, 227 (1984).

"[N]either history nor this Nation's experience requires us to disregard the overriding respect for the sanctity of the home that has been embedded in our traditions since the origins of the Republic." Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 601, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 1387-88, 63 L.Ed.2d 639, 660 (1980). The respect for the sanctity of the home does not depend upon whether it is a mansion or hut, or whether it is a permanent or a temporary structure. As stated eloquently by William Pitt, " `The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail; its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England cannot enter — all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!'" Miller v. United States, 357 U.S. 301, 307, 78 S.Ct. 1190, 1195, 2 L.Ed.2d 1332, 1337 (1958) (quoting remarks attributed to William Pitt).

A structure need not be one's "home" in order for the occupant to have a legitimate expectation of privacy there. Minnesota v. Olson, 495 U.S. 91, 96, 110 S.Ct. 1684, 1687-88, 109 L.Ed.2d 85, 92-93 (1990). "`[T]he Fourth Amendment protects people, not places,' and provides sanctuary for citizens wherever they have a legitimate expectation of privacy." Id. at 96 n. 5, 110 S.Ct. at 1688 n. 5, 109 L.Ed.2d at 93 n. 5.

Throughout our State's history, its citizens have engaged in various types of outdoor recreational activities on public lands. Idaho's first game laws were enacted by the Territorial Legislature in 1864. Idaho's state park system will celebrate its centennial this year. While engaging in outdoor recreational activities on public lands, our citizens often use various types of portable shelters such as backpacking tents, wall tents, tent trailers, and travel trailers. The central purpose of the constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures forecloses any distinction between such types of shelters. See, United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 822, 102 S.Ct. 2157,...