WARRANTLESS SEARCH OF CONVICT RULED ILLEGAL

Cops Claim He Was Subject To Scrutiny At Any Time, But Federal Appeals
Court Says No

With a ringing call for privacy protection, a federal appeals court has
rejected Napa County officers' warrantless search of the home of a man
suspected of plotting to firebomb PG&E property.

Sheriff's deputies said they needed no warrant to search the Napa apartment
of Mark J. Knights in June 1998 because he was on probation for a drug
conviction, requiring him to submit to searches at any time.

But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said such searches, to be legal,
must be done for the purposes of probation - to supervise Knights and aid
in his rehabilitation - and cannot be a pretext for conducting a search in
an unrelated criminal investigation without a warrant.

"As we enter the 21st century, citizens find the very notion of privacy
under almost relentless assault," said Judge Ferdinand Fernandez in the 3-0
ruling. He cited the proliferation of random drug testing, the sale of
driver's license information and sharing of bank account data, and
electronic tracking of computer Web site users.

"Perhaps it even seems quaint to worry much about the sanctity of a home
where we can speak, listen, read, write and think in privacy," Fernandez
said. But he said probationers, like all Americans, are protected by
constitutional guarantees against unreasonable searches.

The court disagreed with a 4-3 ruling last year by the California Supreme
Court, in a separate case, allowing police to conduct a warrantless search
of a probationer's home to look for evidence against his roommates. The
state court said the officers' motives were irrelevant because a probation
search can be conducted for any reason.

Thursday's ruling is binding on all federal judges in California and the
eight other states in the 9th Circuit. It means the legality of a search
may depend on whether the defendant is charged in state or federal court.

The ruling bars the use of considerable evidence against Knights, who was
indicted a year ago on charges of conspiracy to commit arson against PG&E
property.

Authorities said the utility had cut off his electricity in 1996 for
failing to pay his bills. Between then and the time of his arrest, the
court said, more than 30 incidents of vandalism were reported against PG&E
facilities in Napa County, including short circuits caused by chains thrown
onto transformers.

After seeing suspicious activity in Knights' apartment, a sheriff's deputy
broke down a door, searched and found detonation cord, ammunition, bolt
cutters, a PG&E padlock and other material, the court said. But U.S.
District Judge Martin Jenkins ruled the search illegal and the appellate
panel agreed.

Citing rulings since 1985 that limited the scope of probation searches,
Fernandez said the deputy "was using the probation term as a subterfuge to
enable him to search Knights' home without a warrant. In so doing, he
crossed the frontier that separates citizen privacy from official enthusiasm."