N.D.Ill.: Guest standing under Olson does not extend to the backyard

Defense counsel was not ineffective for not moving to suppress evidence found in his grandmother’s backyard. While it was curtilage, the drugs were immediately apparent to the officer and seen from off the property. The critical issue, however, is that even if he had guest standing in the house, it does not apply to the backyard. Thomas v. United States, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112641 (N.D. Ill. October 22, 2010):

Citing affidavits submitted by a cousin and by his grandmother, Thomas suggests that he was in fact an overnight guest at his grandmother’s house, entitled to claim Fourth Amendment protections as recognized in Minnesota v. Olson, 495 U.S. 91, 96-97, 110 S. Ct. 1684, 1688 (1990). If Thomas was in fact an overnight guest, however, he would nevertheless have no reasonable expectation of privacy in the curtilage of the house. See United States v. Concepcion, 942 F.2d 1170, 1172 (7th Cir. 1991) (tenant could not assert an expectation of privacy in common areas of an apartment because other tenants used that space and could admit as many guests as they pleased); United States v. Villegas, 495 F.3d 761, 768 (7th Cir. 2007) (no legitimate expectation of privacy in the common hallway of a duplex in which defendant resided). While the need for a guest’s privacy is reasonable, the expectation of privacy does not extend to those areas of the house-the backyard, for example-in which the guest’s privacy would not likely be respected. See Olson, 495 U.S. at 99, 110 S. Ct. at 1689.

The CI did not personally appear before the issuing judge, but that is only a single factor in finding probable cause. The CI was otherwise corroborated. Also, the good faith exception applied. United States v. Hester, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112670 (N.D. Ill. October 22, 2010).*