E.D.Ark.: No 4A REP in trash container at the street for pickup

Based on the undisputed facts (such that a hearing isn’t required), defendant’s trash was out for collection, and no reasonable expectation of privacy was violated by searching it, and then using that information to get a search warrant. “Here, Officer Walker in his affidavit states, ‘[t]he receptacle was located at the end of the driveway near the street waiting for pickup.’ … As a result, the Court determines Mr. Bryant had no subjective expectation of privacy in the garbage that society accepts as objectively reasonable.” In addition, there were controlled buys. Defendant’s cell phones were also properly searched. United States v. Bryant, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114683 (E.D. Ark. June 21, 2021).

“Given the legal principles above, the proper question in this case is not whether the vehicle Jackson was riding in violated § 55-4-110(b), but rather, whether Officer Javins had an ‘objectively reasonable suspicion that a violation of that statute was occurring’ at the time she stopped the vehicle. … Officer Javins testified that she suspected the vehicle was violating § 55-4-110(b) solely because her headlights reflected off of a clear plastic cover on the vehicle’s registration tag, and that reflection temporarily prevented her from seeing the otherwise legible information on the tag from approximately twenty-four feet away. … The Court finds that although Officer Javins appeared to testify credibly about what she observed, the totality of the circumstances, case law, and plain language of § 55-4-110(b) all suggest that her basis for reasonable suspicion to justify the traffic stop in this case was not credible.” United States v. Jackson, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114590 (M.D. Tenn. June 16, 2021).*