State v. Patricia Kane
State v. Patricia Kane
Opinion
¶ 1. Defendant Patricia Kane appeals the trial court's conclusion that she violated a special probation condition requiring her to abide by electronic monitoring, specifically a global position system (GPS) monitor. On appeal, she claims that the condition was an improper delegation of authority, failed to notify her of the conduct constituting a violation, and violated her constitutional right to travel and her right to be free of unreasonable searches. Defendant also claims that, after the probation revocation hearing, the court improperly imposed defendant's original conditions, including the electronic monitoring condition. We affirm.
¶ 2. Because defendant took her son from his legal custodian and crossed state lines, the State charged her with second degree unlawful restraint under 13 V.S.A. § 2406(a)(3) and custodial interference pursuant to 13 V.S.A. § 2451. An information and accompanying affidavit were filed on January 28, 2014, the same day a warrant was issued for defendant's arrest. Defendant was arrested and arraigned on January 31, 2014. Subsequently, on July 8, 2014, she pled guilty to the custodial interference charge, and the State dismissed the unlawful restraint charge.
¶ 3. After a contested sentencing hearing on October 2, 2014, the court sentenced defendant to two to five years, all suspended, except for one year. Additionally, the court imposed Conditions A-S and several special conditions. Those special conditions included Condition 32, which required defendant to "abide by all electronic monitoring as directed by your probation officer," and Conditions 33-35, which directed defendant to stay 500 feet from her son's school and residence, to avoid contacting her son without authorization from the court or the Department for Children and Families (DCF), and to obey all DCF orders. Defendant did not directly appeal these conditions.
¶ 4. After serving the unsuspended portion of her sentence, defendant was released to the community on the probation conditions imposed by the court. Under Condition 32, the Department of Corrections (DOC) required defendant to be electronically monitored using a GPS unit. The GPS unit used to monitor defendant has three components: the first part, the base charging station, connects to a standard electrical outlet and to defendant's telephone landline; the second component, an ankle bracelet, is a small black box that is permanently attached to defendant's ankle with a rubber strap; and the third piece is an XT unit, which must be worn by defendant unless it is being charged. To maintain a charge, the XT unit must be charged in the base charging station for two hours, twice a day, for a total of four hours. While the XT unit is charging, defendant must remain close to the base charging station.
¶ 5. The GPS unit reports defendant's location and any violations either via cellular service or via the base charging station's landline connection. If there is no cellular service-as is true at defendant's home-the GPS unit does not report defendant's location until the XT unit links with the base charging station and the data can be uploaded using the base charging station's landline connection. When defendant commits certain violations, such as remaining out past curfew or allowing the battery to deplete, a text message displays *767 on the XT unit explaining how defendant can fix the issue; for example, the message instructs defendant to return home or to place the XT unit in the charger. Similarly, if defendant disconnects the base charging station's landline connection and cellular service is unavailable in the area, a message indicates that the base charging station and XT unit are unable to connect. Violations such as these are recorded by the 3M Electronic Monitoring Website, and an email alert is sent to a community corrections officer (CCO). CCOs are responsible for managing electronic monitoring and communicating with defendant and her probation officers regarding compliance. Generally, after receiving an email alert, a CCO will contact defendant and attempt to remedy the violation.
¶ 6. Over the course of several months-November 3, 2015, December 31, 2015, and February 2, 2016-the State charged defendant with three violations of probation (VOPs) involving her GPS unit and curfew. 1 A VOP revocation hearing on these three VOPs began on March 31, 2016. 2
¶ 7. The State's case began with the testimony of defendant's first probation officer. The probation officer testified that the alleged November 2015 violation was based on defendant's failure to charge her XT unit twice daily and, as a result, defendant's failure to abide by all electronic monitoring as directed by the probation officer. Despite the charging requirement and the probation officer's attempts to address the charging problem without filing a VOP, defendant repeatedly and continually failed to charge the XT unit, including a period during which the unit was not charged for forty-eight hours. When questioned about her inability to keep the XT unit charged, defendant variously told the officer that it was not convenient to charge when she travelled, that her rabbit chewed the charger's cord, and that she did not believe that she should be monitored with a GPS unit. Without the GPS unit, the probation officer testified that she could not effectively monitor defendant or ensure that defendant did not violate the condition requiring her to stay five hundred feet from her son's school and residence.
¶ 8. The next witness for the State was the probation officer's supervisor. The supervisor corroborated the probation officer's testimony that keeping the GPS unit charged was an ongoing issue. According to the supervisor, defendant first explained that she could not keep the unit charged because of a defective base charging station, so the probation office provided her with a new unit. The supervisor also reiterated that the electronic monitoring condition, as implemented with a GPS unit, was a necessary condition based on defendant's conviction.
¶ 9. Probationer's CCOs testified to similar effect. The first CCO testified that defendant failed to keep the XT unit charged, despite clear instructions that the unit should be charged twice daily, for two hours at a time. For example, on October 4, 2015, the CCO received an email alert *768 that the XT unit's battery was dead; when the officer contacted defendant, she explained that a rabbit chewed the charger cord and that she was in Newport, Vermont, and unable to get a new charger at that time. Likewise, another CCO testified that, although he had many conversations with defendant about keeping her XT unit charged, a printed report demonstrated multiple instances when the unit was not charged. In general, moreover, all of the CCOs indicated that they never discovered any mechanical issue with the GPS unit when they inspected it.
¶ 10. Defendant's second probation officer testified to the basis for the February 2016 VOP charges, which also involved violating the rules of the electronic monitoring condition. According to this probation officer, defendant failed to comply with the electronic monitoring requirement almost daily. Moreover, like defendant's first officer, the second officer testified that monitoring was required based on the circumstances of defendant's conviction, specifically to ensure that she was not contacting her son.
¶ 11. The second probation officer's testimony was reinforced by another CCO's testimony. This CCO testified that he began monitoring defendant in early January 2016 and, during an eighteen-day period, he noticed ninety-six violations. Primarily, these violations involved disconnecting the base charging station from the telephone landline and plugging only the defendant's home phone into the landline, including a period when the base charging station was disconnected from the landline for sixty-eight hours. According to the CCO, defendant explained that she disconnected the base charging station because the unit periodically made the sound of a fax machine on her home phone and this sound made the phone unusable. But the CCO indicated that he did not find any problem with the phone line or the base charging station when he tested the line.
¶ 12. Defendant, who represented herself at the VOP hearing, did not present any evidence. In her closing arguments, she argued that the electronic monitoring condition was an improper delegation of authority to the probation officers, that the lengthy electronic monitoring period was excessive given that she was a nonviolent offender, and that her probation could not be revoked solely on the basis of the accumulating technical violations, without considering her intent and other behavior during the time period. The State countered by claiming the evidence established defendant had repeated opportunities to comply with the electronic monitoring requirement and continually failed to do so, including a number of lengthy instances when the GPS unit was disconnected. Given the repeated and substantial violations, the State requested that the court revoke probation and require defendant to serve the remainder of her sentence.
¶ 13. In an oral decision from the bench, the court found that defendant violated Condition 32, the electronic monitoring condition. First, the court reiterated its previous conclusion that a legitimate purpose existed for imposing Condition 32 based on the nature of the offense and the need to ensure defendant did not contact her son without permission. 3 The court *769 found that credible and convincing evidence established that defendant violated this valid condition by willfully failing to abide by the monitoring requirements, including a number of times when the GPS unit was not working for lengthy periods of time. The court acknowledged that some instances when the GPS unit malfunctioned did not appear to be defendant's fault. The court further concluded, however, that the length of time the GPS unit was unconnected could not be credibly attributed to a phone call or to a mistakenly charged battery, and instead demonstrated that defendant willfully chose not to abide by Condition 32. After finding defendant violated her probation conditions, 4 the court revoked her probation but did not impose the full remaining sentence. Instead, given the facts of the underlying charge and defendant's lack of criminal history, the court split defendant's sentence again, so that the modified sentence imposed was two to five years, all suspended, except for eighteen months with credit for time served. In addition, the court continued the same probation conditions as defendant's original sentence, including the electronic monitoring condition.
¶ 14. Probationer appealed to this Court. We review a trial court's conclusion that a defendant violated a probation condition in two steps.
State v. Bostwick
,
¶ 15. On appeal, defendant argues that Condition 32 was an improper delegation of authority to the probation officer, that the condition failed to notify defendant of the conduct constituting a violation, and that Condition 32 violated defendant's constitutional rights because the condition is a warrantless search and unduly burdens defendant's privacy and travel rights. In addition, defendant claims that the court erred when it continued defendant's original conditions, including the electronic monitoring condition, after the probation revocation hearing.
I. Improper Delegation
¶ 16. Defendant's first claim is a collateral attack on Condition 32 and is therefore barred. We have previously held "that a probationer is barred from raising a collateral challenge to a probation condition that he [or she] was charged with violating, where the challenge could have been raised on direct appeal from the sentencing order."
State v. Austin
,
¶ 17. In this case, there was a contested sentencing hearing before the trial court on October 2, 2014. At this hearing, the court had the opportunity to take evidence and to make factual findings to support the conditions of probation, including Condition 32. Defendant did not appeal the condition or the adequacy of the court's findings in support of the condition. Cf.
*770
State v. Lucas
,
¶ 18. Now, in this appeal, defendant claims that our precedent renders this condition invalid because Condition 32 allowed "the probation officer to independently establish conditions." In particular, she references a line of cases beginning with
State v. Moses
that distinguish between permissible conditions, which provide probation officers with the authority to implement conditions, and impermissible conditions, which give probation officers open-ended authority to create probation conditions.
II. Lack of Notice
¶ 19. Defendant's next claim is that she did not have notice of what conduct constituted a violation of Condition 32. This argument is not barred as an improper collateral attack.
Gauthier
,
¶ 20. "To be charged with violating probation, a defendant must have notice before the initiation of a probation revocation proceeding of what circumstances will constitute a violation of probation."
State v. Sanville
,
¶ 21. Here, based on the facts stated on the record, defendant had notice of the probation terms and simply chose not to abide by them. First, defendant signed the probation agreement containing Condition 32. The signed agreement demonstrates defendant knew that she was required to abide by all electronic monitoring as directed by her probation officer.
III. Constitutional Claims
¶ 22. Defendant's third argument is that, as applied,
6
Condition 32 infringes on three of her state and federal constitutional rights: the right to travel; the right to privacy; and the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. Defendant did not raise any of these arguments below; therefore, we review her constitutional claims for plain error.
State v. Gleason
,
*772 A. Right to Travel
¶ 23. We conclude that, as applied to defendant, Condition 32 did not limit her right to travel and, as a result, there was no error. Based on the condition's plain language, Condition 32 is not a restriction on travel, but a requirement that she abide by electronic monitoring.
State v. Galanes
,
¶ 24. But defendant, as a probationer, had no general right to travel beyond a specified area.
State v. Levitt
,
B. Right to be Free of Unreasonable Searches
¶ 25. Defendant claims that Condition 32 was an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article Eleven of the Vermont Constitution. Because our analysis follows slightly different paths, we address defendant's Fourth Amendment and Article Eleven arguments separately.
i. Fourth Amendment
¶ 26. Placing a GPS device on a person's body to track the person's movements is a trespass that constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment.
7
See
Grady v. North Carolina
, --- U.S. ----, ----,
¶ 27. In examining defendant's privacy expectations under Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, her status as a probationer is a salient part of the inquiry.
Knights
,
¶ 28. On the other hand, recent federal decisions indicate that the nature of the search-constant GPS monitoring of defendant-may violate even a probationer's diminished expectation of privacy. Viewed under a certain light, for example, "[w]hat the technology yields and records with breathtaking quality and quantity is a highly detailed profile, not simply of where we go, but by easy inference, of our associations-political, religious, amicable and amorous, to name only a few-and of the pattern of our professional and avocational pursuits."
United States v. Lambus
,
¶ 29. Given these competing arguments regarding the nature of the search, the State's purpose for continually monitoring defendant warrants careful review under federal precedent. Generally, the U.S. Supreme Court and courts applying U.S. Supreme Court precedent have concluded that the government's dual interests in monitoring probationers-rehabilitation and protecting society from future criminal violations-permits some intrusion into a probationer's privacy that would otherwise violate the Fourth Amendment.
Knights
,
¶ 30. For example, in
United States v. Lambus
, a federal case following
Grady
, the government used GPS data gathered from a parolee's ankle bracelet as probable cause for several wiretap applications.
¶ 31. In this case, the CCOs and probation officers repeatedly testified that the purpose of Condition 32 was to ensure defendant did not violate the special conditions prohibiting contact with her son. Beyond the State's general interest in rehabilitation and protection, such tracking measures were particularly relevant in this case because the underlying crime was a felony charge of removing a child from his rightful custodian and taking the child across state lines in violation of a court's custody order. Moreover, defendant's status as a probationer and her awareness of the electronic monitoring condition diminished her expectation of privacy. Thus, although we acknowledge that continual GPS monitoring may be particularly intrusive, under these circumstances, we conclude that Condition 32 is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment and that no error occurred in its application. See
United States v. Miller
,
ii. Article Eleven
¶ 32. Defendant also invokes Chapter I, Article Eleven of the Vermont Constitution, 9 to support her claim that Condition 32 is an unreasonable infringement on her privacy rights. Although this Court has concluded that Article Eleven "provides its own independent protection that in many circumstances exceeds the protection available from its federal counterpart," in this case, Article Eleven does not mandate a different result than the Fourth Amendment.
*775
State v. Bogert
, 2013 VT 13A, ¶ 17,
¶ 33. GPS monitoring of a probationer is a search that falls within the scope of Article Eleven. See
Grady
, --- U.S. at ----,
¶ 34. This Court previously determined that probation supervision is a "special need" that allows the State to depart from the warrant and probable cause requirements.
State v. Lockwood
,
¶ 35. In
Lockwood
, after weighing the probationer's privacy rights against public protection concerns, we held that a search of a probationer's home pursuant to a probation condition providing for warrantless searches was valid because the probation officers had "reasonable grounds" for the search.
¶ 36. In part, we distinguished these cases based on the different spots a probationer and a furloughed offender occupy along "the continuum of possible punishments."
Id.
¶ 26 n.4,
¶ 37. In this case, although we recognize that defendant is on probation and thus enjoys a greater liberty interest than parolees or furloughees, we do not consider that fact to be dispositive when weighed along with the nature of the search. Defendant agreed to a clear probation condition allowing continual electronic monitoring. The critical distinction from
Lockwood
and
Bogert
is that this condition did not authorize warrantless searches of defendant's home or possessions. Because a person has a heightened expectation of privacy in his or her home, Article Eleven affords a special sanctity to the home. See
State v. Bryant
,
¶ 38. Moreover, even though defendant's privacy expectations may be stronger than a parolee's or furloughee's, defendant still does not possess privacy expectations equivalent to a person at liberty. At minimum, her ability to remain in the community is tied to her ability to abide by her probation conditions, curtailing her liberty interests and privacy expectations. Other factors further weaken defendant's privacy expectations. First, not only did defendant sign a document indicating that she would be subject to continued electronic monitoring, the court, her probation officers, and her CCOs explained the electronic monitoring condition to her multiple times. This agreement and the subsequent explanations put defendant on notice that she would be subject to electronic monitoring to further the state's rehabilitative and public-protection goals. Further, because the electronic monitoring reasonably related to the state's special need based on defendant's underlying offense, defendant knew that her privacy would be reduced to ensure the state could ascertain her location relative to her son.
*777
¶ 39. Finally, the State's interest in monitoring defendant is strong. Generally, GPS monitoring of probationers allows the State to prevent recidivism and encourages rehabilitation in the community. In the context of this case, the State possesses limited means to ensure that defendant does not violate her conditions. The only means other than a GPS unit that the State could use to ensure defendant's compliance with the conditions are routine checks by probation officers, routine searches of her home, strict curfews and limitations on travel, or direct and continual observation of defendant or her son. Unlike these techniques, which would severely curtail defendant's liberty, the GPS monitoring is narrowly tailored to fit defendant's circumstances while allowing defendant some freedom and autonomy. See
Lockwood
,
¶ 40. As applied to defendant, we conclude that the warrantless and suspicionless GPS monitoring did not violate Article Eleven. Under these circumstances, defendant's limited privacy rights as a probationer do not outweigh the narrowly tailored condition, the State's strong interest in ensuring defendant's compliance, and the circumscribed nature of the search.
IV. Reimposed Probation Conditions
¶ 41. Defendant's final claim is that, after the court determined defendant violated her probation, the court erred by reimposing the same standard probation conditions and special conditions, including the electronic monitoring condition. Specifically, defendant claims that the reimposed conditions lack a sufficient nexus to her crime, are not narrowly tailored to the crime committed, and are not supported by factual findings.
¶ 42. Properly speaking, the conditions were not reimposed, but merely continued as part of defendant's original sentence. Thus, we conclude that defendant's three challenges to her probation conditions are collateral attacks on the original sentence and are barred.
Austin
,
¶ 43. Moreover, the circumstances here fit within the justifications supporting the collateral attack rule. Defendant had notice and opportunity to respond to the original conditions and did not directly challenge her sentence. See
Austin
,
Affirmed.
Previously, on March 25, 2015, defendant was charged with a VOP involving a different issue; defendant admitted to this violation on June 10, 2015, and her original probation conditions were reimposed.
On July 6, 2015, the State charged defendant with a VOP based on new criminal conduct. While this VOP charge was pending, the State charged defendant with the three VOPs involving her GPS unit. Because the July 6, 2015 VOP charge was based on new criminal conduct that had not been resolved, the merits of the March 31, 2016 VOP hearing were limited to allegations that defendant violated Condition 32-the electronic monitoring condition-and did not involve claims of new criminal behavior.
The court had reached this conclusion in a November 20, 2015 decision denying defendant's motion to vacate Condition 32. In that decision, the court found that
[Condition 32] was a reasonable and necessary one on the specific facts of defendant's case. Considering her conviction was for taking her son out-of-state, keeping track of her movements is necessary for the proper supervision of her case. ... This [ ] eliminates the need for even more restrictive conditions, such as strict curfews or strict limitations on travel over all. The condition is reasonable in that it is not unnecessarily harsh or excessive in achieving these goals. ... [And e]ven if it were to be determined that the 4th Amendment applies here, the court finds this GPS condition is not an unreasonable search under that protection considering the above need for it.
The record indicates that the court found only two violations, but does not reflect the court's determination regarding the third violation.
To the limited extent that defendant argues her probation officer exceeded the scope of Condition 32 when implementing the electronic monitoring condition, we do not agree. Condition 32 indicates that defendant "must abide by all electronic monitoring as directed by [her] probation officer." The plain language of this condition gives the probation officer the authority to direct defendant's electronic monitoring, and defendant did not abide by the officer's directions, including the officer's requirement that the GPS unit remained charged. Cf.
State v. Bostwick
,
Defendant also claims that Condition 32 is facially invalid. But, like defendant's improper delegation claim, her argument that Condition 32 is facially unconstitutional is barred as a collateral attack on a probation condition. In
State v. Austin
, during his probation revocation hearing, the defendant raised, for the first time, a constitutional challenge to a urinalysis condition on the basis that the condition infringed on his right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.
The Fourth Amendment states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." U.S. Const. amend. IV.
Because we conclude the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, we do not address whether defendant's acceptance of the probation conditions constituted a waiver of her Fourth Amendment rights. See
United States v. Knights
,
Article Eleven states: "That the people have a right to hold themselves, their houses, papers, and possessions, free from search or seizure; and therefore warrants, without oath or affirmation ... ought not to be granted." Vt. Const. ch. I, art. 11.
This "special need" analysis arose from federal case law; specifically,
Griffin v. Wisconsin
established that probation supervision was a "special need" that made the warrant requirement impracticable and justified replacing the "probable cause" standard with a "reasonable grounds" standard.
As discussed above, defendant is not prohibited from bringing a challenge to conditions as applied.
State v. Rickert
,
We do not determine whether the collateral attack bar applies to new conditions imposed after a probation revocation hearing.
Reference
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