United States District Court, District of Columbia.

“ It is most unfortunate that the information which came to the government in this case required that searches be conducted by numerous agents, for long hours, in buildings owned by a Church. However, the fourth amendment cannot become so inflexible that criminal activity can be completely insulated from our criminal justice system by the talismanic invocation of religion. We can only hope that never again in our history will the government be required to perform such an unseemly task.
The Court has examined the documents that the government intends to submit during its case in chief. ”

“ Finding no illegality in the actions of the government agents who executed the warrants at issue, the Court will deny the motions, and order the defendants to proceed to trial to be "acquitted or convicted on the basis of all the evidence which exposes the truth." ”

“ The defendants' final contention is the vague and general argument that they had an expectation of privacy in the exercise of their first amendment right to association and free exercise of religion. In effect, the defendants seek to raise the rights of third parties simply because they share membership in a religious organization. In Rakas, the Supreme Court explicitly and emphatically declared that fourth amendment rights are personal and cannot be raised vicariously. ”

“ The second requirement is that the discovery must be inadvertent. If the execution of the warrant is merely a subterfuge to search for other evidence, the plain view doctrine cannot be invoked. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, supra 403 U.S. at 469-71, 91 S.Ct. 2022. If the discovery is anticipated and the location is known, agents are compelled to obtain a warrant. Id. at 470-71, 91 S.Ct. 2022. There has been no credible evidence in this case to indicate that the agents knew in advance the nature or location of other incriminating evidence or that the warrant was obtained as a subterfuge. ”

“ Although the Court rejects the defendants' attempt to invoke a higher standard, the Court recognizes that the true standard, reasonableness, is not a mechanical one. The nature of the material sought, and its location, are important elements in the application of the test. Although the scrupulous exactitude test does not apply, the Court has examined the facts and circumstances of this case with the utmost care in order to determine the reasonableness of the government's actions in conducting these searches. ”

“ For example, there is no evidence that the defendant Wolfe ever set foot in any of the Church's offices in California, and no evidence that he was even aware of the existence of the documents seized on July 8, 1977. The Court is unable to fathom how he could have any expectation of privacy with respect to documents and premises merely because of his membership in the Church. Being an official of the Church would not alter this analysis. The defendants seek a significant broadening of the right to suppress evidence. ”

“ United States, 255 U.S. 298, 41 S.Ct. 261, 65 L.Ed. 647 (1921) , the Court held that such evidence could not be introduced in a federal prosecution. Although the exclusion of probative reliable evidence denigrates the public interest in the determination of the truth at trial, the exclusionary rule has evolved as one deterrent to police misconduct. Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 487-88, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976) . [1]
Before the Court at this time are the motions of the defendants to suppress evidence. ”

“ Defendants' Exhibit 543A. Once again, in determining the reasonableness of the agents' actions, the Court is greatly assisted by the view of the premises performed at the defendants' request. The Cedars Complex is a mass of confusing corridors, tunnels, and offices. At the time of the search, the building was being fully renovated from a hospital to an office building. Many of the hospital signs had yet to be removed. The agents were unable to gain entry into the Information Bureau. The affidavit indicated that only the Information Bureau had moved into the complex. ”

“ Second, even assuming the defendants had established that they received the letters would not decide the issue. The legitimate expectations of privacy of a party who has received letters is obviously affected by what happens to the letters after their arrival. If the letters are kept in the office of the addressee, the addressee would have standing under the rule of the Mancusi case. However, if the letters are forwarded to a central filing system, and access to such system is available to numerous third parties, the expectations of privacy would be seriously undermined. ”

“ The affidavits are identical except that typographical errors in the District of Columbia affidavit were corrected in the Los Angeles affidavits, and two additional footnotes were added to the two Los Angeles affidavits. The Court's analysis of the defendants' challenge to the Los Angeles warrants is greatly aided by the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which reversed Chief Judge Bryant's earlier ruling and upheld the facial validity of the D. C. warrant. ”

“ However, if the facts are, as represented, that the taxpayers by their own wrong, deliberately concealed income and failed to pay taxes thereon, it would seem to be the height of inequity for the courts to enable them to profit thereby. ”

“ The defendants' first contention is that the warrants lack probable cause because the informant was unreliable. Meisner gave information in direct conflict with his penal interest, without any promises by the government, and his information was independently corroborated in numerous respects. As a former official of the Church, Meisner had direct knowledge of the operations of the Information Bureau and the location of its offices and files. The affidavit showed that the information was sufficiently reliable. ”

“ Thus, defendants can have illegally seized evidence suppressed if their fourth amendment rights have been infringed. Id. In the prior proceedings at which the searches were challenged, the searches plainly involved the plaintiff's fourth amendment rights: the Church of Scientology was the owner and operator of the premises and the party challenging the searches. In the proceedings before the Court, the parties challenging the searches are individuals. ”

“ Finally, item 162 calls for the seizure of "any and all fruits, instrumentalities, and evidence (at this time unknown) of the crimes of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and theft of government property in violation of 18 U.S.Code ss 371, 1503 and 641 which facts recited in the accompanying affidavit make out." ”

“ Perhaps some documents were seized outside the warrants; however, some error must be expected and is entirely reasonable. There has been no showing that the degree of error was so egregious that the entire search was exploratory or unreasonable. The defendants' arguments that the searches violated their procedural rights and that the government proceeded in bad faith are also rejected.
IX. CONCLUSION. No one in our civilized society is pleased by searches of Churches lasting twenty hours and involving over 150 FBI agents. ”

“ The defendants argue that the standard to be applied to the searches of the Church's premises is "scrupulous exactitude." In support of this contention the defendants rely on the Supreme Court's decision in Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476, 85 S.Ct. 506, 13 L.Ed.2d 431 (1965) . In Stanford, Texas law enforcement officers obtained a warrant to search for evidence of violations of the Texas Suppression Act which outlawed the Communist Party. Id. ”

“ In Mancusi v. De Forte, 392 U.S. 364, 88 S.Ct. 2120, 20 L.Ed.2d 1154 (1968) , union records were seized from an office shared by the defendant and several other union officials. Id. at 365, 88 S.Ct. 2120. The parties in Mancusi stipulated that the defendant spent a considerable amount of time in the office, and that he had custody of the papers at the moment of the seizure. Id. ”