OH12: Having a key to mom’s apt doesn’t give son standing when he didn’t live there

Defendant kept drugs in his mother’s apartment, but he wasn’t her tenant nor was he an overnight guest. [Essentially he used her place as a stash house.] The mere fact he had a key to her apartment didn’t give him standing in it. State v. Rodriguez, 2016-Ohio-452, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 389 (12th Dist. Feb. 8, 2016):

Although Rodriguez argues that his possession of a key to the apartment demonstrates he had privacy expectations in the apartment, possessing a key, in and of itself, does not establish a reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment. State v. Joiner, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 81394, 2003-Ohio-3324. See also State v. Logel, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 21912, 2008-Ohio-17, ¶ 28 (“although the defendant had a key to the apartment, he demonstrated no other indicia that would suggest he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment”); and State v. Robinson, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 77981, 2001 Ohio App. LEXIS 3096, 2001 WL 792696, *3 (July 12, 2001) (possession of keys to a vehicle was insufficient to demonstrate a reasonable expectation of privacy therein).