S.D.N.Y.: An order of protection keeping one from his own house denies him standing in the house

Defendant was under an order of protection keeping him from his own house, and that denied him standing. Hiding in the closet when police arrived pretty much proves it. United States v. Murray, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9820 (S.D. N.Y. Jan. 18, 2019):

In this case, it is questionable whether the defendant had a subjective expectation of privacy. Fluellen testified that the defendant initially ignored her request to watch her children because he did not want to communicate with her or go to her apartment in light of the protective order against him. Indeed, the defendant hid in the closet when the officers arrived at the apartment. See Stephenson, 760 N.W.2d at 25 (“[I]f appellant had a subjective expectation of privacy in his home it is unlikely he would have hidden in the bathroom when [an officer] knocked on the door to gain entry to the residence.”). The defendant was well aware that he was forbidden by court order from being in Fluellen’s apartment.

In any event, it is clear that the defendant had no objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in the apartment. An objectively reasonable expectation of privacy – one that society is ready to recognize as reasonable – is one that the law accepts. See Cortez-Dutrieville, 743 F.3d at 884 (stating that society is not prepared to recognize an expectation of privacy for trespassers, squatters, or any others who occupy a piece of property unlawfully). As another court stated when considering circumstances mirroring those here, “It is simply nonsense to say that society is prepared to recognize [the defendant’s] right to be where society by the processes of the law has ordered him not to be.” Morrison, 710 N.E.2d at 586.

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