Howell v. Earl
Opinion of the Court
■ MEMORANDUM
Gallatin County Sheriffs Deputy Scott Secor responded to the home of Francis and Marion Howell on information that a person involved in a car crash was present
Secor contends that the special verdict questions were an incomplete statement of the law because they did not require the jury to find that Secor’s entry into the home was combined with “an attempt to find something or to obtain information within the residence.” Secor’s challenge reflects language from recent Supreme Court decisions suggesting that government officials do not conduct a “search” within the Fourth Amendment unless they are seeking an object or information.
We need not, and do not, address whether a Fourth Amendment search requires a particular purpose on the part of the officer to seek information, because the record in this case makes clear that Secor was seeking information when he entered the Howells’ home without a warrant. By Se-cor’s own testimony, he entered the home to ensure that someone was supervising a young boy he had seen outside the house. Even if Secor was not looking for the person involved in the car crash, he was looking for information when he entered the home. It does not matter that the information Secor was seeking was possibly unrelated to a criminal investigation. See Grady, 135 S.Ct. at 1371 (“[T]he government's purpose in collecting information does not control whether the method of collection constitutes a search.”); see also City of Ontario v. Quon, 560 U.S. 746, 755, 130 S.Ct. 2619, 177 L.Ed.2d 216 (2010) (“It is well settled that the Fourth Amendment’s protection extends beyond the sphere of criminal investigations.”).
Secor’s admission is sufficient to reject his claims under both the United States and Montana Constitutions. There is another reason to reject Secor’s claims under the Montana Constitution: the protections of Article II, Section 11 are not coextensive with the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourth Amendment. See State
We hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in formulating Special Verdict Questions 12 and 15.
AFFIRMED
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
. We note that Secor's challenge seems misplaced. The law governing the Howells' claims was presented to the jury in the form of instructions. Secor's legal challenge is therefore more appropriately targeted at the jury instructions, not the special verdict form. Nevertheless, we address Secor’s arguments as he presents them. We determine whether the district court abused its discretion in its choice to not include language in the special verdict form regarding Secor's purpose when entering the home. See United States v. Reed, 147 F.3d 1178, 1180 (9th Cir. 1998) (addressing a challenge to a special verdict form under an abuse of discretion standard).
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Marion I. HOWELL Francis L. Howell v. Travis EARL, individually and as agent of Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, State of Montana Kelli Munter, individually and as agent of Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, State of Montana, Gallatin County, a political subdivision of the state of Montana James Sulages, individually and as agent of the Montana Highway Patrol, state of Montana State of Montana, and Scott Secor, individually and as agent of Gallatin County Sheriff's Department, State of Montana
- Status
- Published