State v. Weekley

• Decision Date: 05 June 2001
• Docket Number: No. 1 CA-CR 99-0897.,1 CA-CR 99-0897.
• Citation: 27 P.3d 325,200 Ariz. 421
• Parties: STATE of Arizona, Appellant, v. Michael WEEKLEY (A), John Herman Jansen (B), Appellees.
• Court: Arizona Court of Appeals

27 P.3d 325

200 Ariz. 421

STATE of Arizona, Appellant, v. Michael WEEKLEY (A), John Herman Jansen (B), Appellees.

No. -0897.

Court of Appeals of Arizona, Division 1, Department D.

June 5, 2001.

Janet Napolitano, Attorney General, by Randall M. Howe, Chief Counsel, Criminal Appeals Section, and Robert A. Walsh, Assistant Attorney General, Phoenix, Attorneys for Appellant.

James J. Haas, Maricopa County Public Defender, by Paul J. Prato, Deputy Public Defender, Phoenix, Attorneys for Appellee Jansen.

Kerrie M. Droban, Cave Creek, Attorney for Appellee Weekley.

OPINION

THOMPSON, Judge.

¶ 1 The state charged Michael Weekley and John Herman Jansen with one count of manufacture of dangerous drugs and one count of possession of equipment and/or chemicals for the purpose of manufacturing dangerous drugs. The state also charged Weekley with an additional count of possession of methamphetamine for sale. Both defendants moved to suppress all evidence seized by Phoenix police officers following a search of a hotel room they jointly occupied. Defendants likewise sought to suppress evidence seized from their persons, from Weekley's backpack and vehicle, and from a storage unit rented in Weekley's name.

¶ 2 The trial court granted defendants' motions to suppress in their entirety, and the state filed a timely notice of appeal. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes Annotated (A.R.S.) §§ 13-4031 and 13-4032(6). For the reasons that follow, we reverse the trial court's suppression order and remand for further proceedings consistent with this decision.

FACTS

¶ 3 In reviewing the trial court's suppression order, we may consider only the testimony presented at the suppression hearing. See State v. Flower, 161 Ariz. 283, 286 n. 1, 778 P.2d 1179, 1182 n. 1 (1989)

. We view that evidence in the light most favorable to sustaining the trial court's ruling. State v. Moore, 183 Ariz. 183, 186, 901 P.2d 1213, 1216 (App.1995).

¶ 4 On January 12, 1999, Jansen rented a room for himself and Weekley at a hotel in Phoenix. He rented the room for one night and paid the hotel's assistant manager in cash. He also allowed the manager to take an imprint of his credit card. He indicated on the registration card that he would be parking a Nissan Maxima in the hotel's parking lot. The following day, Jansen extended his rental of the room until January 19.

¶ 5 The hotel's housekeeping staff eventually became concerned because defendants repeatedly refused maid service and twice requested that housekeeping bring a vacuum cleaner to their room late in the evening. On January 15, the housekeeping supervisor, B.P., expressed these concerns to the assistant manager, G.I. B.P. indicated that she wanted to enter the room to check for possible damage. G.I. agreed to inspect the room with B.P. as soon as his schedule permitted.

¶ 6 On January 19, the last day for which Jansen had reserved the room, G.I. and B.P. met to conduct their inspection. They arrived at the room some time between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. and discovered that someone had placed a sign on the doorknob requesting housekeeping services. Upon entering the room, they observed "lots of boxes" containing empty vials, beakers, and prescription medication bottles in plain view. G.I. opened the doors of the television cabinet and discovered what he believed to be chemicals stored in various jars and containers. The label of one of the jars indicated that it contained sodium cyanide. G.I. also discovered a bottle containing an unidentified liquid in the room's refrigerator. In addition, G.I. and B.P. found a plastic plate, covered with a burnt, powdery substance, sitting on the bathroom counter.

¶ 7 Believing that they had discovered a "drug lab," G.I. and B.P. requested that the employee working the front desk call 9-1-1. The two then remained in the room for as long as twenty minutes while they waited for the police to arrive. Eventually, they left the room to return to the front office to await the police. Before leaving, however, G.I. re-keyed the door's electronic lock to prevent the defendants from entering the room.

¶ 8 Phoenix police officer Alvin Jackson arrived at the hotel at approximately 11:40 a.m. G.I. immediately took Jackson to the room to show him what he and B.P. had discovered. Jackson remained in the room for approximately one to two minutes while G.I. showed him the items he and B.P. had found. Jackson then returned with G.I. to the hotel's office.

¶ 9 Approximately five minutes later, Phoenix police officer Rick Massey arrived at the hotel. Officer Jackson apprised Massey of the situation and both officers then moved their patrol cars approximately one block from the hotel so as not to alert the defendants in the event they returned to the hotel. Shortly after noon, G.I. accompanied Massey and Jackson to the room. While there, Massey wrote down the names of the chemicals in the labeled bottles. The officers did not move anything while in the room, nor did they search areas of the room not previously searched by G.I. and B.P.

¶ 10 The officers left the room and returned to the hotel office by 12:16 p.m., at which time Weekley approached the front desk to inquire as to why his electronic key was not working. The officers arrested Weekley. Moments later, they arrested Jansen, who was waiting by the hotel room door.

¶ 11 Additional law enforcement officers subsequently arrived at the hotel and entered defendants' room. Phoenix firefighters also responded to the scene to determine whether the air in the hotel room was safe to breathe. The police eventually seized the chemicals and other drug-related items discovered in the room.

¶ 12 At no time did the police attempt to obtain a warrant to permit them to search defendants' hotel room or to seize the items found there. Moreover, several hours after defendants' arrests, officers conducted a warrantless search of Weekley's vehicle in the hotel parking lot. They obtained keys to the vehicle while searching Weekley subsequent to his arrest. In the vehicle, the officer discovered a copy of a rental agreement to a storage unit facility. The rental agreement was in Weekley's name. A search warrant was obtained for the storage unit and methamphetamine and additional chemicals were found there.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

¶ 13 Following a hearing on defendants' motion to suppress, the trial court issued an order suppressing all evidence seized from the hotel room, from defendants' persons, from Weekley's vehicle, and from the storage unit. The court found that the police had engaged in a warrantless search of the hotel room without defendants' consent. It further found that the hotel's employees lacked authority to consent to the search.

¶ 14 The court reasoned that exigent circumstances provided the only possible justification for the warrantless search. However, it rejected the state's argument that the volatile nature of the chemicals discovered in defendants' hotel room gave rise to an emergency situation which required the police to act quickly to insure the safety of both the public and the police:

The immediate police reaction was surveillance rather than any emergency actions to protect life or property. Officers remained in the room or immediate area even after determining the danger involved with some of the disclosed materials. Police conduct belies their statements [that] they were reacting to exigent circumstances in conducting a warrantless search.

The court concluded that the unlawful search of defendants' hotel room tainted all evidence subsequently seized by the police.

DISCUSSION

¶ 15 The state's appeal challenges the trial court's suppression order on two grounds. The state argues first that G.I. and B.P. had authority to consent to the police officers' subsequent search of the hotel room. The state argues in the alternative that the officers' warrantless entry into the hotel room did not constitute "searches" for purposes of the Fourth Amendment because none of those searches exceeded the scope of the initial private search conducted by G.I. and B.P. As we explain below, we find the second argument advanced by the state to be dispositive of the police searches prior to noon and the first argument dispositive of the police search and seizure after the noon checkout deadline.¹

I. THE HOTEL EMPLOYEES' SEARCH OF DEFENDANTS' ROOM CONSTITUTED PRIVATE, RATHER THAN STATE, ACTION AND THUS DID NOT IMPLICATE THE FOURTH AMENDMENT. BECAUSE THE SUBSEQUENT ENTRIES INTO THE ROOM BY OFFICERS JACKSON AND MASSEY DID NOT EXCEED THE SCOPE OF THE HOTEL EMPLOYEES' INITIAL PRIVATE SEARCH, THOSE ENTRIES LIKEWISE DID NOT CONSTITUTE FOURTH AMENDMENT "SEARCHES."

¶ 16 The Fourth Amendment prohibits the government, either directly or through its agents, from engaging in unreasonable searches and seizures. United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 113, 104 S.Ct. 1652, 80 L.Ed.2d 85 (1984). The Fourth Amendment's proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures, however, "is wholly inapplicable `to a search or seizure, even an unreasonable one, effected by a private individual not acting as an agent of the Government or with the participation or knowledge of any governmental official.'" Id. (quoting Walter v. United States, 447 U.S. 649, 662, 100 S.Ct. 2395, 65 L.Ed.2d 410 (1980) (Blackmun, J., dissenting)); see also Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U.S. 465, 41 S.Ct. 574, 65 L.Ed. 1048 (1921)

(wrongful search or seizure conducted by private party does not violate Fourth Amendment). Clearly, a private search may invade a person's reasonable expectation of privacy. Nevertheless, if that invasion of privacy is purely the result of non-governmental action, "[o]nce frustration of the original expectation of privacy occurs, the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit governmental" use of the information obtained. See id. at 117, 104 S.Ct. 1652.

The Fourth Amendment is implicated only if the authorities [obtain] information with...