Briefs: Courts say icefishers have privacy rights+.

• Date: 09 January 2002
• Author: Ziemer, David

Byline: David Ziemer

Minnesota court holds icefishers have privacy expectations in their fishing shanties

Do icefishers have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their fishing shanties? The Minnesota Court of Appeals held last month that they do.

In the case, an officer of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) entered Marvin Larsens ice-fishing house to see if he was properly licensed, using the standard method for doing so putting one hand on the door handle, knocking on the door and saying, Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer, while simultaneously opening the door and entering the fish house.

Larsen was charged with possession of marijuana and using too many fishing lines. The trial court granted Larsens motion to suppress, and the court of appeals affirmed in a decision by Judge R.A. Randall.

The Court of Appeals concluded that an enclosed shelter from the wind, the cold, and the eye of the public, where one can fish, sleep, eat, watch television, and cook (depending on how much work the occupant puts into the shelter) fits the definition of able to provide shelter for human beings, and is thus to be treated as any other dwelling.

The court rejected the States argument that an expectation of privacy is defeated by the public nature of the waters, or by a Minnesota law prohibiting fish houses from being locked from the inside.

The court further rejected...