NC: Search warrant for house included rental car on curtilage, reversing CoA

A search warrant for the home includes the curtilage, and that includes vehicles parked on the curtilage; here, a rental car. State v. Lowe, 2016 N.C. LEXIS 1116 (Dec. 21, 2016), rev’g State v. Lowe, 774 S.E.2d 893 (N.C. App. 2015) (posted here):

We previously addressed the scope of a search warrant with regard to vehicles in State v. Reid, in which we held:

The authority to search described premises would include personal property located thereon. Authority to search a house gives officers the right to search cabinets, bureau drawers, trunks, and suitcases therein, though they were not described. “It has been held that if a search warrant validly describes the premises to be searched, a car on the premises may be searched even though the warrant contains no description of the car.”

286 N.C. 323, 326, 210 S.E.2d 422, 424 (1974) (emphasis added) (citations omitted). In the case of a private residence, “the premises” by necessity encompasses the curtilage of the home. This is because “the curtilage is the area to which extends the intimate activity associated with the ‘sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of life,’ and therefore has been considered part of the home itself for Fourth Amendment purposes.” Oliver v. United States, 466 U.S. 170, 180, 104 S. Ct. 1735, 1742, 80 L. Ed. 2d 214, 225 (1984) (quoting Boyd v. United States, 116 U.S. 616, 630, 6 S. Ct. 524, 532, 29 L. Ed. 746, 751 (1886)); see also Courtright, 60 N.C. App. at 250, 298 S.E.2d at 742 (explaining that the curtilage “is an area within which the owner or possessor assumes the responsibilities and pleasures of ownership or possession”).

Here Detective Barber obtained a valid search warrant based on probable cause for 529 Ashebrook Drive authorizing the search of “premises, vehicle, person and other place or item described in the application for the property and person in question.” It is undisputed that when Detective Barber and other officers arrived at the target residence to execute the warrant, the rental car parked in the driveway was within the curtilage of the home. The nature of the items to be seized (including, inter alia, controlled substances, drug paraphernalia, and any evidence relating to the use or sale of controlled substances) was such that the items could be easily stored in a vehicle. Because the rental car was within the curtilage of the residence targeted by the search warrant, and because the rental car was a proper place “in which the object of the search may be found,” we conclude that the search of the rental car was authorized by the warrant. Ross, 456 U.S. at 820, 102 S. Ct. at 2170, 72 L. Ed. 2d at 591. Accordingly, we hold that the search of the rental car did not exceed the scope of the warrant and that the trial court properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress.

In departing from the general rule of Reid, the Court of Appeals erred. …