GA: No REP in a police interview room when you’re talking to yourself

Defendant talked to her dead sister she was later accused of killing while sitting alone in a police interview room that was being recorded. She had no reasonable expectation of privacy. She thought it was private, but that’s not enough. Menzies v. State, 2018 Ga. LEXIS 458 (June 29, 2018):

Menzies appears to argue that the video recording of her statements constituted an unlawful search and seizure because she reasonably expected those statements to be private. But to make out a claim for an unlawful search under the Fourth Amendment, a defendant must show “‘that he personally has an expectation of privacy in the place searched, and that his expectation is reasonable.’” Smith v. State, 284 Ga. 17, 21 (663 SE2d 142) (2008) (quoting Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U. S. 83, 88 (119 SCt 469, 142 LE2d 373) (1998)). And we have previously considered the precise question Menzies raises here, whether defendants have a reasonable expectation of privacy in a police interview room. They do not. See Rashid v. State, 292 Ga. 414, 418-419 (737 SE2d 692) (2013). Because Menzies had no reasonable expectation of privacy, she cannot establish a Fourth Amendment violation, and the trial court did not err in denying her motion to suppress her statements to her deceased sister on that ground.