Appellant was on probation, and had agreed to a search condition for guns, firearms, or narcotics. When he became a suspect in an investigation concerning stolen property, police officers searched his home for stolen property. The trial court granted a suppression motion because the searching officer’s subjective intent was to search for stolen property. The prosecutor appealed, and the appellate court reversed the trial court’s judgment. The search was lawful because appellant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the area of the garage where the property was found. Once he agreed to searches of his property for guns and narcotics, he no longer had a reasonable expectation of privacy during the probation term. The officer’s subjective purpose for the search did not make it illegal.
Case Summaries