A defendant who lived with a probationer had no reasonable expectation of privacy in shared areas of the residence. The court here upheld a warrantless search of the defendants locked bedroom in the house he shared with his mother, who was on searchable probation. During a probation search officers asked the mother about the locked room; she said that it belonged to her son and that she had a key to it on her dresser. Officers obtained the key and searched the defendants room. Over a strong dissent by Justice McIntyre, the appellate court held that the defendant had no expectation of privacy in the locked room because a probationer possessed a key to the room and thus the area was subject to joint access and control.
Case Summaries