Vidaurri v. Superior Court

California Court of Appeal Dec 16, 1970 No. Civ. 10668Published

Before: Brown (Gerald)

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Holding. The court held that evidence obtained during a warrantless administrative inspection of a private backyard is inadmissible, as the inspection violated the Fourth Amendment and the resulting evidence was tainted.

Issues

Whether an agricultural inspector may conduct a warrantless search of a private backyard under state law.
Whether evidence discovered during an illegal warrantless search is admissible under the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.
Whether a homeowner has a reasonable expectation of privacy in a fenced backyard.

Disposition. Writ of mandate issued

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“His presence in the Vidaurris’ back yard and his search were illegal.”

“The evidence came to light as a result of Baker’s illegality, is tainted and is inadmissible”

“a person who surrounds his back yard with a fence, and limits entry with a gate, locked or unlocked, has shown a reasonable expectation of privacy for that area”

[552]

Opinion

BROWN (Gerald), P. J.

The Story of the Wooly White Fly

-and

The Warrantless Unwarranted Search

Edward and Eleanor Vidaurri,. charged with cultivating marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11530.1) are entitled to a writ of mandate requiring the superior court to suppress illegally obtained evidence.

On May 21, 1970, California Agriculture Department Inspector Tracy R. Baker went to the Vidaurris’ home in La Mesa, to inspect citrus trees in search of the Wooly White Fly, a pest. Baker knocked on the door and rang the door bell. When no one answered he filled out an inspection notice, and went to the enclosed back yard by opening the unlocked gate. He did not have an inspection warrant. His look at the citrus trees failed to reveal the Wooly White Fly. But as he was concluding his inspection he saw a plant he thought was marijuana. He picked a leaf and put it in an insect envelope, writing the address on the envelope. He gave the envelope to the La Mesa Police Department.

As a result, the next day La Mesa Police Officer Charles R. Peightal and another officer went to the Vidaurris’ home to look for marijuana plants. Officer Peightal knocked several times on the door. Again no one was home. The officers went to the house’s left front corner and saw a freshly planted but wilted marijuana plant among the weeds at the side of the house. They then went around the right side of the house, opened the gate and went into the backyard where they searched for and found other growing marijuana plants in the garden, flower beds or cultivated areas. They dug or pulled them up and kept them as evidence.

The Vidaurris’ home was surrounded by hedges, trees, bushes, shrubbery, foliage, plants and flowers in the front yard. The back yard was enclosed by block walls and wooden and wire fences, 4 to 6 feet high, with generally the same items of vegetation as in front. These features and the elevation of the house and lot made it impossible to see from the front street into the area along the left side of the house, let alone into the back yard.

On June 15, 1970, Officer Peightal arrested Mr. Vidaurri. The record does not show if the officer gave Vidaurri a

Vidaurri v. Superior Court

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