WI: Garage is curtilage, and open door is no invitation to enter

A garage is generally curtilage, and entry here violated the Fourth Amendment because the officer did not go in the front door; he went to the back, and then used a flashlight to navigate because he was using the cover of darkness. The officer’s own actions show open door was not an invitation to the world to enter. State v. Davis, 2011 WI App 74, 333 Wis. 2d 490, 798 N.W.2d 902 (2011):

P15 Therefore, Zahn’s warrantless entry into Davis’s attached garage violated the Fourth Amendment under Edgeberg, and as the State concedes, the intrusion is not saved by the potential Leutenegger exception. There is no dispute that the front entry door appeared to be a less intrusive means of attempting contact. Moreover, even if we assumed, arguendo, that entry through the open door of an attached garage was generally permissible under Edgeberg, it was unreasonable for Zahn to proceed to the rear of the garage to a door that was not visible from outside. In fact, it was even more unreasonable because Zahn had to utilize a flashlight to find his way through the dark garage. Given these facts, no person could reasonably conclude that the open overhead garage door was an open invitation for the public to enter and make contact with Davis inside the home.

P16 Because Zahn had no right to enter the garage, the plain view doctrine cannot apply to allow evidence of the firearm he later observed inside the foyer. See Edgeberg, 188 Wis. 2d at 345-46 (“The officer’s right to be in the place where the view occurs is fundamental to the validity of what follows.”). The search warrant police eventually obtained was based on Zahn’s observation. Therefore, all evidence discovered during the subsequent search must also be suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree. See Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 484-86, 83 S. Ct. 407, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441 (1963).