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U.S. Supreme Court ruling 'Deer jacking' could change Vermont game warden searches

Wilson Ring Associated Press


The Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife is going to be looking at how its game wardens conduct searches after three U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned the actions of some wardens in an illegal hunting case, the department's top official said Tuesday.

But Commissioner Louis Porter said Tuesday the full Supreme Court declined to hear the case and the illegal hunting conviction of Clyde Bovat of Hinesburg stands.

The issue revolved around whether the wardens could legally rely on what they saw while on Bovat's property in November 2017 while they were investigating a report that he had illegally hunted at night, known in Vermont as “deer jacking.”

After arriving at Bovat's property, they looked through the window of his garage and saw deer hair on his truck and other evidence of illegal hunting. The wardens then got a search warrant for the garage.

Judge Neil Gorsuch testifies during second day of his Supreme Court confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill, March 21, 2017 in Washington.
“The Fourth Amendment hardly tolerates the sort of meandering search that took place here,” said the Monday statement written by Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch, who was joined by justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. “The wardens violated the Constitution, and the warrant they received premised on the fruits of their unlawful search was thus tainted.”

But Gorsuch's statement said he understood why the full court declined to hear the case, meaning the Vermont conviction is upheld.

Bovat’s attorney Samantha Lednicky said Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court can only take a fraction of the cases that it receives.


“I see this strongly worded admonishment of the Vermont Supreme Court to be a win,” said Lednicky. “This is going to set the stage for future challenges and it’s going to set the stage for the Vermont Supreme Court to hopefully correct what I see and what Justice Gorsuch sees as a misstatement of the law.”

Lednicky had argued the wardens violated Bovat's rights against unreasonable search and seizure because they looked into his garage through a window where they saw deer hair without a warrant.



The trial court rejected Bovat's attempt to suppress the evidence. Bovat was convicted in 2018. He lost his hunting license for three years and was fined $607, Porter said.

Vermont Supreme Court ruling


Last fall, the Vermont Supreme Court upheld Bovat's conviction, ruling the wardens had the right to be in his driveway and the garage window was in plain view.

But in a dissent, Vermont Chief Justice Paul Reiber, who was joined in his dissent by Justice Beth Robinson, cited a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court precedent that said a home's constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure extends to the area around the home.


Vermont Assistant Attorney General David Tartter, who argued the case before the Vermont Supreme Court, said he felt Gorsuch misunderstood the case because it has not been established how long the wardens were in the driveway.

Tartter said it's legal for any member of the public — law enforcement or civilians — to park in a driveway and then walk toward the house.

The U.S. Supreme Court statement says the wardens were in the driveway for about 15 minutes before Bovat's wife refused to give them permission to search the garage.



Tartter said that length of time has never been established in court and it didn't make sense the wardens would have spent that much time there.

Gorsuch’s “opinion assumes facts that have not been found in any court and are in dispute,” Tartter said.

But Lednicky said the wardens “were clearly there to snoop around” and they had to peer into the dark garage through a small window.


“This wasn’t a case where there was a bag of deer (parts) on the pathway or deer open on the porch on the way to the house,” she said.

Sure sounds like the man was caught poaching.

Nothing is said here whether they found fresh
deer parts other than the hair & blood.
Lack of proof the way I read it.

Re: What did they find searching after getting a warrant?

George

deer hair in a truck bed during deer season isn't poaching.
maybe if it was June, and he hadn't picked up a deer hit along the highway.


either way, don't matter, the search was conducted illegally.