People v. Claeys

California Court of Appeal Mar 26, 2002 No. G027481Published

Before: Rylaarsdam

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Holding. The court held that a defendant cannot assert a Fourth Amendment violation based on police trespassing on a neighbor's property, as Fourth Amendment rights are personal and the defendant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in items plainly visible from the adjoining property.

Issues

Whether police officers' trespass onto a neighbor's property to observe a defendant's backyard violates the defendant's Fourth Amendment rights.
Whether a defendant has standing to challenge a search based on a violation of a neighbor's property rights.

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights which . . . may not be vicariously asserted.”

“We can find no California cases, nor does defendant cite any, where a search has been held invalid under the federal Constitution because the police trespassed onto property adjoining a defendant’s property.”

“defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights stopped at his backyard fence because the plants were readily visible from his neighbor’s property and he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in what could be seen from there.”

Opinion

RYLAARSDAM, Acting P. J.

Defendant Cory C. Claeys pleaded guilty to cultivating marijuana and possessing marijuana for sale after the trial

[57]

court denied his motion to suppress evidence and to quash the search warrant. His sentence was stayed pending this appeal. Defendant contends the police violated his Fourth Amendment rights by entering his neighbor’s yard without permission and observing the marijuana plants growing in his backyard by looking over an adjoining fence. We disagree and therefore affirm.

Facts

After the preliminary hearing, defendant moved to suppress evidence obtained as the result of the initial visual search of his property, and the trial court held an evidentiary hearing, which yielded the following facts.

Officer Balicki and another officer entered the property located directly behind defendant’s property to investigate an anonymous tip that defendant was growing marijuana in his backyard. They did not obtain permission from the property owner, John Burke, before entering his property. However, they encountered Burke as they were leaving and told him they were conducting a narcotics investigation.

The two properties are separated by a wooden fence standing less than six feet tall. Because Burke’s property sits on a hill, the officers were able to look into defendant’s backyard without standing on a stool or a ladder. Officer Balicki observed, without the use of any ocular devices, numerous marijuana plants near defendant’s patio and pool and in the tree line next to the fence. Some of the plants were over 10 feet tall.

Officer Balicki’s subsequent search warrant affidavit did not mention whether the officers had permission to enter Burke’s property. During the evidentiary hearing, the prosecutor was called to the stand by defense counsel, and she testified that Officer Balicki told her the officers encountered Burke as they were leaving his property, they “told him what their purpose was, and [Burke] said fine or go ahead or something to that effect.”

The trial court subsequently denied the motion to suppress after concluding: “[F]rom the topographic evidence elicited through testimony and an examination of the exhibits, that the defendant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy and that the officer was able to see over the fence without aid. However, the issue remains of whether or not Balicki had permission to be on the Burke property from which ‘plain view’ was possible. . . . [¶] Even if the Court dismisses the issue of standing,

People v. Claeys

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