CA9: Failure to argue curtilage was violated in district court barred argument on appeal

Viewing photographs of the scene, the district court could conclude that the officers could see defendant with methamphetamine in his garage. “Tran did not argue below that the officers unlawfully entered the curtilage of Chong’s home and therefore waived this argument on appeal.” United States v. Chong, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 25191 (9th Cir. Dec. 13, 2017)

The search warrant was incompletely faxed by the issuing judge to the circuit court clerk. The court of appeals held that fatal. Assuming, arguendo, that was a valid conclusion (but not decided), the search of the methamphetamine was still with exigent circumstances and valid. Commonwealth v. Campbell, 2017 Va. LEXIS 177 (Dec. 14, 2017).