SEARCH OF HOUSE UPHELD BY COURT

Officers Reasonably Thought Tenants Had Moved Out

Police detectives were right to honor a landlord's request to search a
rental house that appeared to have been abandoned by its tenants, the Idaho
Supreme Court said Thursday.

Detectives based their decision to conduct the warrantless search on
landlord Paula Johnson's assertion that the tenants had moved out of the
Coeur d'Alene home, turning possession of the house back over to her.
Furniture and other personal belongings had been removed from the house
when Johnson went to police with suspicions that the former tenants had
grown marijuana in the basement. "When the detectives entered the house,
nothing they saw contradicted Johnson's assertions," Justice Wayne Kidwell
wrote. "The house was empty with no indications that anyone lived there.
Even if the detectives had known that the tenants retained the keys and had
not taken steps to retrieve their security deposit, the detectives could
have reasonably concluded that the tenants had abandoned the premises."

The search, done more than three years ago, turned up evidence that
marijuana had been grown in the house and led detectives to arrest Eric
Brauch and Catherine Gnecchi, the home's two former occupants.

The roommates had signed a year's lease in July 1996, but moved out six
months later when they received a message from the property management
company that Johnson planned to sell the house.

Brauch and Gnecchi had moved most of their belongings out of the 17th
Street house by Feb. 9, but left painting tools and supplies, gardening
tools and other items in the garage. Although Johnson characterized the
items as trash, the tenants said they intended to retrieve the rest of
their possessions and make repairs.

While inspecting the vacant house, Johnson noticed the basement wiring had
been changed, black plastic covered the walls and dirt covered part of the
floor. A day later, while cleaning the house, Johnson discovered a receipt
for halogen light bulbs and went to police. Two Kootenai County Drug Task
Force detectives found dried and green marijuana clippings in the basement,
and eventually searched the Gilbert Street house Brauch and Gnecchi had
moved into, according to court records. There, officers found seven growing
plants, harvested marijuana and drug paraphernalia, court records state.

Brauch, 37, pleaded guilty to manufacturing a controlled substance and was
placed on three years' probation, but reserved the right to appeal the
constitutionality of the first search. Gnecchi, 37, pleaded guilty to two
misdemeanor drug charges and served seven days on the community labor program.