OH1: Driveway not curtilage but front porch is

Defendant was in his driveway when he unreasonably refused to identify himself when the officer had reasonable suspicion. That was not on the curtilage. When he retreated to his porch, he was on the curtilage, but this gun was in plain view and thus still properly seized. State v. Mitchem, 2014-Ohio-2366, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 2308 (1st Dist. June 4, 2014):

[*14] An area is protected under the Fourth Amendment as part of a home’s curtilage if “the area harbors the intimate activity associated with the sanctity of a *** home and the privacies of life.” Id. at 300, quoting Oliver at 180, quoting Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 630, 6 S.Ct. 524, 29 L.Ed. 746 (1886). Four factors guide the determination whether an area constitutes a home’s curtilage: (1) the area’s proximity to the home; (2) how the area is used; (3) whether the area is contained within an enclosure surrounding the home; and (4) the extent to which the area is shielded from observation by people passing by. Id. at 301.

[*15] The front porch of a home has come to be regarded as “the classic exemplar” of an area protected as part of a home’s curtilage, because it is “an area adjacent to the home and ‘to which the activity of home life extends.'” Jardines at 1415, quoting Oliver at 182, fn. 12. Here, the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing would not compel a contrary conclusion.

[*16] The driveway where the police officers first saw and then engaged with Mitchem was also adjacent to his home. But it was not enclosed in a manner that shielded it from the view of the officers. And it was not otherwise shown to “harbor[] the intimate activity associated with the sanctity of a *** home and the privacies of life.” Accordingly, the driveway was not part of the home’s curtilage, but instead constituted a public place. See State v. Eberhart, 1st Dist. Hamilton No. C-010346, 2002 Ohio 1140, 2002 Ohio App. LEXIS 1157, ¶ 13 (Mar. 15, 2002) (holding that a traffic stop in defendant’s driveway occurred in a “public place” when there was no evidence that the driveway was somehow hidden from public view).