An unfinished structure was not a “dwelling” and it did not have the protection of curtilage

An officer went to a site where defendant was building a home. It was fenced, and the gravel driveway was blocked by a locked gate. “No Trespassing” and “Beware of Dog” signs were posted at the entrance. The officer climbed over the gate and was later joined by another officer. The unfinished house on the property was framed but had no sheet rock or doors, and no one appeared to be living there. The property fell within the “open fields” doctrine and thus was not protected by the Fourth Amendment. The unfinished structure was not a “dwelling” under the Fourth Amendment and did not yet have the protection of curtilage. Defendant’s effort to maintain his privacy through fences and signs did not afford the property Fourth Amendment protection. While on the property, the officers could look at the serial number of a stolen trailer. Morse v. State, 288 Ga. App. 725, 655 S.E.2d 217 (2007).

Extraterritorial stop of the defendants’ vehicle violated the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness requirement, so the officer’s statutory violation in stopping a vehicle outside of his jurisdiction required suppression of evidence flowing from the stop. State v. Jones, 2007 Ohio 5818, 2007 Ohio App. LEXIS 5113 (5th Dist. October 29, 2007). Also, the passenger’s conduct was never indicative of a crime to subject him to a search. State v. Skropits, 2007 Ohio 5817, 2007 Ohio App. LEXIS 5119 (5th Dist. October 29, 2007).

Search of a cigarette package during an otherwise lawful consent search of the person was not unreasonable. Also, the fact the defendant did not object [right, like any reasonable person knew he could] to the search of the cigarette package showed it was voluntary. State v. Damron, 2007 Ohio 5808, 2007 Ohio App. LEXIS 5109 (5th Dist. October 26, 2007). Comment: I confess that I still do not understand how a person who has consented to a search of the person, and the officer takes something off of him, can be expected to know that he can still object to the search of the package. The failure to limit consent after the search starts is commonly invoked by courts as a factor in consent, but I just do not buy it; people just do not know that they can but the courts do, so the courts apply it against the defendant.