CA11: Pillow case with dye pack stains showed its “outward appearance” so no reasonable expectation of privacy

Defendant had an expectation of privacy in the pillow case he carried from a bank robbery, but it was not an expectation that society was prepared to recognize as reasonable considering it was stained from the dye pack such that its “outward appearance” belied its contents. United States v. Epps, 613 F.3d 1093 (11th Cir. 2010):

In this case, considering the totality of the circumstances, the fact that the pillowcase contained dye packs and possibly other items associated with the bank robbery could “be inferred from [its] outward appearance.” Sanders, 442 U.S. at 764 n.13, 99 S. Ct. at 2593 n.13; see also United States v. Williams, 41 F.3d 192, 197 (4th Cir. 1994) (“[T]he circumstances under which an officer finds the container may add to the apparent nature of its contents.”). Deputy Kent saw Mr. Epps with a white bag in his hand, running away from a blue Cavalier parked at an angle with its driver’s door open. The deputy knew that a blue Cavalier had been carjacked, and he believed that the carjacking was related to a bank robbery that had taken place in the same area just minutes before. After being directed to stop, the fleeing individual pointed a gun at the deputy. Upon closer inspection, the white bag was found to be a pillowcase with pink stains on it. Tellers frequently give bank robbers dye packs, which are designed to explode after the robbery and permanently mark the bills with ink. See United States v. King, 842 F.2d 311, 312 (11th Cir. 1988) (“Although [Officer] Morton was not aware of the … robbery, he knew that bank tellers frequently insert red dye bombs in packages during bank robberies.”); United States v. Gidley, 527 F.2d 1345, 1348 & n.1 (5th Cir. 1976) (discussing detective’s awareness that “dye stained money often is a result of the explosion of a dye bomb planted during a bank robbery,” and finding it “unlikely” that “the other officers were unaware of the significance of stained money”).

Because the pillowcase’s contents could be inferred from its outwardly visible stains and the circumstances under which the police obtained it, the pillowcase was one of those containers that “by [its] very nature cannot support any reasonable expectation of privacy.” Sanders, 442 U.S. at 764 n.13, 99 S. Ct. at 2593 n.13. The pillowcase therefore fell outside the protective ambit of the Fourth Amendment, and the police did not violate Mr. Epps’s constitutional rights when they opened the pillowcase without first obtaining a warrant.