W.D.Tenn.: Nothing of exterior of building suggested separate living units inside; officers found def’s door open and unlocked inside

Nothing of the outward appearance of the dwelling that was subject to the search warrant suggested that there were multiple units inside. Thus, officers could not have known until after entry seeing some of the doors with keyed locks, and their testimony on that is credited. Defendant’s door was not locked and the door was open. United States v. Sibert, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127342 (E.D.Tenn. Aug. 10, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126961 (E.D. Tenn. Sept. 19, 2016):

In this case, there was no evidence presented of any visible indication from the exterior of the house that there were separate dwelling spaces within. The postal address did not indicate multiple separate units and there was only one mailbox and one front door. In short, nothing about the house’s outward appearance indicated it contained separate dwelling units. See Crumpton, 824 F.3d 593, 2016 WL 3093346, at *10-11 (finding no outward indication of subdivided apartments where it appeared to be a single-family home from the outside and, while there were multiple mailboxes, their visibility was questionable, as was the presence of any apartment numbers); United States v. Noel, 938 F.2d 685, 686 (6th Cir. 1991) (finding no outward indication the residence was anything but a single-family dwelling where there were two rear apartments that “had no exterior designations or identifying addresses, nor were they equipped with separate mailboxes”).

Moreover, there was scant evidence presented of any visible indication from the interior of the house of dwelling separateness, such as a locked door separating the upstairs from the downstairs. The only arguably visible sign of any limitation of access to the various bedrooms in the house was a keyed lock on some, but not all, of the bedrooms doors, including the doorknob of the open door to Defendant’s bedroom. Although Defendant points to the existence of a keyed lock on his bedroom door as evidence of separate dwellings, it is undisputed that the door to Defendant’s bedroom was open and unlocked at the time police made their initial entry. While Defendant did have two small refrigerators in his bedroom, there was not a kitchen, den, or other living space contained within his room.

This situation is far different from others where courts have determined officers knew or should have known a structure contained multiple dwelling units. …