Pop quiz: Reasonable expectation of privacy
May 5th, 2008 by Gideon | 
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Do you have a reasonable expectation of privacy in your car, which you left unlocked in the parking lot of your place of business? Would police require a warrant to open the doors to your car and look inside? Assume nothing in plain sight.
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The police need a warrant.
(I’m assuming it’s parked legally, etc., right?)
The question seems too easy. What am I missing?
(Other than, your client got screwed but is now about to have his brilliant lawyer win a Motion to Suppress?)
Yes, it is legally parked.
What if the door was ajar? Would that make a difference?
Oh, you’re not missing anything
I was just wondering why there is a legit expectation of privacy in an unlocked vehicle while there would be none if you left your suitcase unlocked in the driveway.
Um, took me a while to respond - I had to get my suitcases full of marijuana out of my driveway.
No, no difference if door is ajar. Unless the police used the ‘community caretaking’ excuse to start closing your door ‘for your own good’ and then from that vantage point saw some contraband, etc. But I think that violates the rules you’ve put out so far.
But seriously, I’m missing a case here - or maybe it’s a Texas vs. the rest of the world difference (those exist in abundance - but usually to the detriment of my clients).
I don’t think the police can start rifling through suitcases that are unlocked but sitting in my driveway, in Texas any way.
Maybe I’m missing something. It was my understanding of Federal case law that items left by the driveway (or sidewalk) can be deemed abandoned - or is that rule limited to garbage?
If it is deemed abandoned, then there is no REOP.
Does the equation change if the car is parked on the street (street-parking) and left unlocked?
The Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. I think people have a right to expect that someone will not rummage through their car if they left it unlocked or even slightly ajar. The community caretaking function seems like BS to me. You don’t have to search a car to secure it if the door is left open.
What if the car is left there for a week - unlocked. Is it abandoned then?
Clearly if I leave my car locked in a parking lot for a week, I don’t expect people to get it, but if I leave it unlocked…do I really have a REOP?
Ah garbage or intentionally abandonded stuff. Yes, I think the police can go through that no problem. Assuming they can prove you abandoned it/threw it away, then yes you are giving up any reasonable expectation of anything - privacy or otherwise.
If that’s the analogy, then I’d say the difference is that the police/State shouldn’t be able to logically argue that you have abandoned your vehicle just because you left it unlocked at your place of business.
Point of order: I am celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a few Coronas, and unwisely commenting under my real name. Perhaps you Connecticutians (?) don’t celebrate Zaragosa’s victory over the French, and you may be a few beers behind me, so forgive me being a little slow witted tonight…
Nutmeggers, I believe is the correct nickname.
I’m glad you’re drinking it up for Cinco. I advocated as much in my previous post (obviously don’t drive now).
Yeah, abandoned stuff. At what point does it become “abandoned”, even in a parking lot.
I think if the car is locked, then it the period of time before it can be deemed abandoned is longer than if the car is unlocked.
I think most jurisdictions have rules about when they can tow “possibly abandoned” cars, and often put stickers on the windshields beforehand to let the owners know they are in jeopardy.
I “think” that; I’m not saying that in a previous life I use to own cars worth less than $300 (at the time of purchase) and that I ever had to make decisions about whether or not it was literally worth it to have the POS towed to the mechanic.
Also, I know you know about Cinco de Mayo, I just didn’t know whether a ‘nutmegger’ (seriously there has to be something like ‘Austinite’ or ‘Texan’ that puts the geography in the nickname) actually celebrated it as hard as a Texan named “Jaime”.
[As long as Bennett doesn't weigh in on this conversation I can get away with changing my name to "Jaime" - he's the only regular non-Austin law blogger I've met in person, so he's the only one likely to expose my true ethnic status as 'Albino'.]
Haha. I wouldn’t have noticed the little switcheroo if you hadn’t mentioned it.
From the State Library:
According to Webster’s New International Dictionary, 1993, a person who is a native or resident of Connecticut is a “Connecticuter”.
There are numerous other terms in print, but not in use, such as:
“Connecticotian” - Cotton Mather in 1702.
“Connecticutensian” - Samuel Peters in 1781.
“Nutmegger” is sometimes used. It is derived from the nickname, the Nutmeg State, based on the practice of the Connecticut peddlers who traveled about selling nutmegs.
There is not, however, any nickname that has been officially adopted by the State for its residents.
Doesn’t matter where it’s parked or if it’s locked or not. If it’s not your car, stay out of it, period.
If nothing is in plain site and a cop is snooping around, they need a warrant, and the warrant needs to be specific on why they want to search and what they want to look for.
The police and government have WAY to much power, IMO.
I don’t see the distinction between locked or unlocked, closed or ajar? The intent of the owner would seem to be more important and then just apply “reasonable person”.
That’s the problem, though, isn’t it? Intent of the owner means squat. It’s what a reasonable person would think. A reasonable person might well think that if you left your car unlocked in the parking lot of your place of work for a week, you have no expectation of privacy.
I mean, think about it. If you left your car at work - door unlocked for the whole weekend, do you really think no one is going to go into it and that your belongings are secure?
Gideon,
You’re making a huge leap here. If I leave my door unlocked, I’m not offering my personal property for public consumption. Locked or unlocked, my thinking is; no one has the right to enter my vehicle (or home) and take my things. To think otherwise it to turn criminal law on it’s head. The same logic applies if the door is ajar (imo).
Well, what if it was in your home? You invite 20 people over and leave all the doors in your home open. Do you have an expectation of privacy, then, in the contents of those rooms?
Ahh but now you have an invitation involved :P. An invitation to my house, is not an invitation to my entire house.
My expectation of privacy would then extend only as far as common courtesy allows. Even if my bedroom door is open, I would not expect you to go inside the door. I would not expect you to stick your head inside the door and look around. Anything more than a curious glance would violate privacy.
Of course, floor plans would matter. If I lived in a 2-story, I wouldn’t want anyone going upstairs at all even if the doors were open.
From a common sense point of view, I’m having a hard time figuring out why anyone would leave the door to their car open for a full day in a parking lot and yet expect that no one will look inside.
The issue is; the car door being open. If you are just trying to be a good neighbor, close the door. Rummaging through personal effects inside the vehicle has nothing to do with the issue of the open door. As a private citizen, there is no responsibility to find out who the owner is and so there is still an expectation of some privacy, even if diminished.
I think there is an argument to be made against the police as well (at least beyond plain view).
True…I’m just trying to find the line…
Damn. I’m glad I practice in Oregon.
So this would not be a problem in your neck of the woods?
I’m not saying I’m right… I’m just exploring the line.
Gideon–people have a right to expect that people will follow the law, i.e., not go in your car and take stuff.
Does that mean if you tint your windows, that you are exercising your right to have reasonable expectation of privacy, or you are inviting cops to come snooping around “what is he hiding with those tints”?