People v. Superior Court (Spielman)

People v. Superior Court (Spielman) (1980) 102 Cal.App.3d 342, involved officers who happened to observe a burglary in the making while on patrol. One of the officers climbed over a fence to "'get to the other side and unlock the gate'" which was latched from the inside. While momentarily balanced on top of the fence, the officer found himself looking into a window and observed Spielman packaging marijuana for sale. ( Id., at p. 344.) The evidence conclusively established that the officer's observation was made in good faith and was inadvertent in nature. (Ibid.) The majority of the court concluded that the policeman's conduct in inadvertently observing criminal activity through a nearby window was reasonable. ( Id., at p. 347.) Although concurring in the result, Justice Grodin made the following pertinent observations: "What is at issue in this proceeding (given the ruling of the trial court) is the lawfulness of the observation which the police officer made from the fence, and not the lawfulness of any subsequent intrusion or seizure. The top of the fence was most certainly not a 'public vantage point' , such as a 'sidewalk, pathway, common entrance or similar passageway . . . which necessarily negates any reasonable expectancy of privacy in regard to observations made there.' The trial court was, therefore, quite correct in concluding that real parties had a reasonable expectation of privacy protectible under the Fourth Amendment . . . ."