State v. Marsh
State v. Marsh
Opinion of the Court
In this direct appeal from a conviction of unlawfully possessing a firearm suppressor, appellant argues that evidence obtained as a result of the search must be suppressed because the search warrant was unconstitutionally overbroad and officers exceeded the scope of the warrant by searching his separately rented bedroom. We affirm.
FACTS
On November 16, 2017, Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force agents applied for and received a warrant to search a house on South Front Street in St. Peter, Minnesota.
The agents went upstairs and found appellant behind a partially closed door in a bedroom. Agents had to "talk him out" of the room, as he initially refused to leave. Appellant exited the room, and the agents conducted a search. Agents found a digital scale, homemade smoking devices, glass pipes, a gun case with guns and ammunition, syringes, and plastic baggies. Agents also found three cylindrical objects in the room, which further investigation revealed were used homemade firearm suppressors.
Respondent State of Minnesota charged appellant with unlawful possession of a firearm suppressor, fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance, possession of hypodermic needles, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Appellant moved to suppress the evidence gathered as a part of the search and to dismiss all charges for lack of probable *828cause. The district court held a contested omnibus hearing on the issue of whether the police had the authority to enter appellant's room as a part of their search of the house. D.B., a building administrator for the City of St. Peter, testified for the state, noting that transforming a traditional single-family house into a rental unit, or renting out a room, requires a rental license. He testified that D.H.J. had not registered the house as a rental unit with the city.
Agent Isaacson, an agent involved in the search, also testified on behalf of the state. He described the outside of the house as a traditional, two-story house. When he entered the bottom floor, it included a kitchen, dining room, living room, and an open staircase leading to a second floor. Upon going up the stairs, the agents came upon an open area with a mini fridge and doors leading to bedrooms. Appellant's bedroom door was partially open, with a padlock on the outside. After talking with appellant, he agreed to leave and they conducted the search. The room did not have any number or signage on it identifying it as a separate rental unit.
Detective Grochow testified on behalf of the defense and explained that, as a part of his work with the Drug Task Force, he was familiar with the house. He had visited the house two to three years earlier and knew that there were multiple people living in it besides D.H.J. at that time. He testified that, as part of his work with the drug court, there were concerns regarding this house and suspicions that other people were living there. Detective Grochow explained that it was "implied" that other people lived at the house, but acknowledged that he had no "direct information."
Appellant also testified. He explained that, at the time of the search, he had been living at the house and paying about $ 120 every two weeks in rent. He explained that he lived in a room upstairs, and that D.H.J. lived on the bottom floor. During his time living there, multiple people resided in the house, always renting a room upstairs. A padlock secured the outside of his door, and he could lock it from the inside with a locking mechanism.
The district court denied appellant's motions to suppress and dismiss. The district court found as follows:
Law enforcement did not, at the time that the warrant application was submitted have reason to believe that there was any portion of [the house] that constituted a residence separate from the rest of the house. Detective Grochow was only aware that other individuals besides [D.H.J.] had lived in the house at some time in the past and that he had spoken to someone in an upstairs bedroom 2-3 years prior to the execution of the warrant. ... The house itself was not listed on city records as a licensed rental property.
Moving its consideration to the execution of the warrant, the district court then determined that
[o]ther than the padlock there were no indications that the bedroom might be the separately occupied living quarters-as opposed to merely a room-of some individual. There was no unit number displayed on or near the bedroom door. There were no signs telling others to keep out of the bedroom.
The district court ultimately determined that the "officers' execution of the search warrant was reasonable," and that "[t]he validity of the warrant for the house is not disputed."
After the district court issued this order, the parties agreed to a Minn. R. Crim. P. 26.01 subd. 4, stipulated-evidence trial. The parties agreed that the issue, "did law enforcement unconstitutionally exceed the scope of the warrant by searching Defendant's bedroom" was dispositive of the case and a full trial would be unnecessary *829if appellant succeeded on appeal. After the stipulated-evidence trial, the district court found appellant guilty of unlawfully possessing a firearm suppressor, in violation of
ISSUES
I. Did appellant preserve for appeal the issue of the overbreadth of the search warrant?
II. Did the officers' search of appellant's rented bedroom exceed the scope of the search warrant?
ANALYSIS
"When reviewing a district court's pretrial order on a motion to suppress evidence, we review the district court's factual findings under a clearly erroneous standard and the district court's legal determinations de novo." State v. Ortega ,
I. Appellant did not preserve for appeal the issue of the overbreadth of the search warrant.
Appellant argues that the warrant, when issued, was overbroad because it did not mention appellant or his room. Appellant forfeited this issue.
In a stipulated-evidence trial, "the parties agree that the court's ruling on a specified pretrial issue is dispositive of the case" which would allow the defendant "to preserve the [pretrial] issue for appellate review." Minn. R. Crim. P. 26.01, subd. 4(a). "The defendant must also acknowledge that appellate review will be of the pretrial issue, but not of the defendant's guilt, or of other issues that could arise at a contested trial."
Appellant expressly agreed that the dispositive issue for appeal was "did law enforcement unconstitutionally exceed the scope of the warrant by searching [appellant's] bedroom." In that agreement, he stated, "I acknowledge that appellate review in this case will only be of the pretrial ruling described in paragraph 1 of this document." (Emphasis added.) This document confirms that the parties did not agree to preserve for appeal the overbreadth of the search warrant.
Furthermore, the district court did not decide this issue in its pretrial order. The district court expressly stated, "The validity of the warrant for the house is not disputed. Defendant argues that his rented bedroom was beyond the scope of the warrant issued for the house." The district court's limited ruling then held that the search of appellant's bedroom was reasonable. See Ortega ,
*830II. The district court did not err by determining that the officers' search of appellant's rented bedroom did not exceed the scope of the search warrant.
Appellant argues that the officers exceeded the scope of the warrant in their search because they should have known that his locked room comprised a separate residence. We disagree.
"A search pursuant to a warrant may not exceed the scope of that warrant." State v. Soua Thao Yang ,
In Minnesota, the "general rule is that a search warrant for a multiple occupancy building is invalid unless it describes the particular unit to be searched with sufficient definiteness." State v. Lorenz ,
There is little Minnesota caselaw on this particular issue. The district court relied on a United States Supreme Court case, Maryland v. Garrison ,
In Garrison , law-enforcement officers obtained a warrant to search "the premises known as 2036 Park Avenue third floor apartment."
*831
Here, from outward appearances, the house was a single-family residence. There were two doors, front and back, and one mailbox. Upon entering, an open staircase provided the only way to access the second floor, which meant the agents had to go through the main floor to the stairs. Once inside, law enforcement had access to the entire house. The upstairs common space had a mini fridge and doors leading to bedrooms and a bathroom, but there were no room or unit numbers and no signs indicating private residences. All of these would have indicated to the agents that this was indeed a single-family home.
The most significant fact that weighs in favor of appellant is that he had a padlock on the front of his door. However, while a lock on a resident's door may be a factor to consider, it is not determinative of whether law enforcement objectively should have recognized it as a separate residence. Courts in other jurisdictions have held similarly. See State v. Anderson ,
Although there are other potential indicators of a multiple-occupancy building, such as a mini fridge on the second floor and the fact that D.H.J. told the officers that appellant was in the house, when viewed in the context of the entire house, these are not enough to have made the officers at the time realize that appellant's room was a separate residence. D.H.J. only told the officers that appellant was upstairs, not that he lived there. Appellant's location would not necessarily have meant that he was a renter, and a padlocked room likewise would not have signaled a separate residential unit, rather than just a secured room. Factors that courts have concluded indicate a separate residence include "separate access from the outside, separate doorbells, and separate mailboxes," and none of those were present here. U.S. v. Kyles ,
DECISION
The validity of a search of a rented room, pursuant to a warrant authorizing the search of the entire house, depends on whether the officers knew or reasonably should have known that it was a multiple-occupancy house during the search.
Under the totality of the circumstances, the lock on appellant's bedroom door was not enough to signal to law enforcement, at the time of the search, that his bedroom was a separate residence. Objectively available facts would have reasonably indicated to police that this was a single-family home. These included: a single mailbox, no separate entrances, open access to all areas *832of the house including the second floor, and no unit numbers or signs. The police acted reasonably in conducting their search, and appellant's bedroom was not outside the scope of the warrant. The district court therefore did not err in denying appellant's suppression motion.
Affirmed.
Agents conducted a search of the trash at the house and found shotgun shells, matches, and baggies coated with methamphetamine residue. The officers then applied for a search warrant based on the items found in the trash search.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE of Minnesota v. Richard Ford MARSH
- Status
- Published