For Fourth Amendment purposes, a carport can constitute a portion of the home, requiring the issuance of a warrant to enter, absent permitted exceptions. A border patrol agent followed a suspected undocumented alien into a carport attached to appellant’s house. He confronted and detained the alien and appellant. After other agents arrived, they knocked on the door that led from the carport to the house and ordered the occupants out; four undocumented aliens exited and were arrested. Appellant’s motion to suppress was denied, in part, with the district court finding that although the carport was within the curtilage of the home, appellant had no expectation of privacy because the interior could be observed from the sidewalk. Reversed. The carport was an area so closely connected to the home that it fell under the same Fourth Amendment protections afforded the home. (See United States v. Dunn (1987) 480 U.S. 294.) By entering the carport without a warrant, the agent violated the Fourth Amendment.
Case Summaries