D.S.D.: A black nylon bag found outside def’s curtilage could be seized and searched

Officers came to defendant’s house to serve an arrest warrant, but nobody was home. Walking back to the street, the officers saw a black nylon bag laying just beyond railroad ties in the yard between the house and nearer the street. As a line of demarcation, the railroad ties would at least mark the curtilage, and the bag was outside that where anyone could pick it up and look. Thus, there was no reasonable expectation of privacy in the bag where it was found. United States v. Wellsandt, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132122 (D.S.D. September 29, 2015).

“[W]here a district court denies a motion to suppress without making explicit findings, ‘[o]ur review is framed by the factual findings and legal conclusions implicit in the district court’s decision ….’” Defendant’s cell phone was seized from his car with a search warrant, and he was found to have consented in writing to a search of the phone, including providing the password to the phone. A search warrant for firearms included a gunlock found in the car. The officers were not required to specify the caliber of the firearms they were looking for. There was no showing that the officers were not acting in good faith. State v. Tyler, 291 Neb. 920, 2015 Neb. LEXIS 169 (October 2, 2015).