State v. Cloutier: Implied Invitees, Pretext and Plain View Under the Fourth Amendment

Law enforcement officers often have occasion to follow the path to the front door of a residence in order to speak to its occupant. Upon answering the door, the occupant may hear a complaint about his barking dog, a query as to whether he witnessed the burglary next door, or a plea seeking support for the police department's Christmas charity drive. Occasionally, a police officer follows the path to a person's door and unexpectedly observes incriminating evidence or activities. In such cases, the police officer's conduct generates the issue of whether his observation implicates the fourth amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches. The Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, recently resolved that issue in State v. Cloutier by articulating for the first time in Maine a legal standard for ascertaining the existence of "legitimate police business" as that term is used in applying the "implied invitee" doctrine to police entries onto private walkways. This Note contends that the Cloutier standard consists of two components: an "objective justification" inquiry which establishes whether a police officer was engaged in some legitimate police activity, and a "good faith, lack of pretext" inquiry which determines whether the entry onto the walkway was a subterfuge or ploy for undertaking an otherwise unlawful search. Significantly, the "good faith, lack of pretext" component invalidates an entry that would otherwise be legitimate under the objective justification inquiry. Disagreeing that the Cloutier standard contains an objective justification inquiry, Justices Scolnik and Roberts joined in dissent to challenge the rationale and holding of the court. Arguing that the court's articulated standard required only that a police officer possess "subjective good faith," the dissent insisted that such a standard was "abhorrent to the privacy values embodied in the constitution of a free society.” According to the dissent, a police officer's entry onto the walkway of a residence should be supported by an "objectively reasonable justification." This Note maintains that the Cloutier standard, despite the vigorous protestations of the dissent, does in fact include an objective justification component in addition to the "good faith" inquiry. The Note also argues that the standard comports with traditional fourth amendment analysis and values, and that it balances individual privacy interests and public safety values in a manner that is consistent with the general tenor of contemporary fourth amendment law.