CA9: Guest of evicted tenant has no REP in premises

Plaintiff claimed to be the guest of the alleged tenant who had been evicted from the premises and he knew it. Thus, they were trespassers, and there was no reasonable expectation of privacy to complain of the officers’ entry. Plaintiff was shot brandishing a broken hockey stick as a weapon. The officers have qualified immunity. Woodward v. City of Tucson, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 17896 (9th Cir. Sept. 15, 2017).

Defendant was stopped en route to his hotel by police who had a search warrant for his room. He wasn’t under arrest, and, when handed the search warrant, he admitted that he had a key to the room. After the search he was arrested. Turning over the key was voluntary, and he wasn’t yet under arrest. [And the officers could have gotten a key from the hotel to enter the room so they wouldn’t damage the door. Or they could kick open the door and damage the premises. There were two independent sources available to them, and one was less reasonable than the other, albeit lawful. Which ever view one takes, this argument wouldn’t go anywhere.] State v. Handy, 2017 La. App. LEXIS 1611 (La.App. 4 Cir. Sept. 13, 2017).*

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