D.Minn.: No REP in an apparent abandoned refrigator in an open field

While defendant had permission to use an open field by a relative, that did not give him a reasonable expectation of privacy in what was nothing more than an abandoned refrigerator containing some drugs. United States v. Douglas, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3673 (D. Minn. January 11, 2012)*:

As [U.S.M.] Judge Brisbois recognized, the most closely analogous precedent in the Eighth Circuit is United States v. Stallings, 28 F.3d 58 (8th Cir. 1994). In Stallings, the Eighth Circuit found that the defendant (Stallings) did not have a subjective expectation of privacy in a tote bag that he had left in the underbrush of a field belonging to his neighbor. Stallings, 28 F.3d at 59-61. The Eighth Circuit emphasized that the tote bag “bore no indicia of ownership indicating it belonged to Stallings,” id. at 61 n.4, and, moreover, that Stallings had “put on no evidence of his possession or control of the bag, his historical use of the tote bag, or his ability or attempts to regulate access to it.” Id. at 60-61. The Eighth Circuit further observed that, even if Stallings had a subjective expectation of privacy, it would not have been a reasonable expectation because Stallings, by leaving the bag in an open field unattended, had no means of restricting access to the bag. Id. at 61 (“[A]ny expectation of privacy Stallings had is not objectively reasonable … because ‘animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public’ had access to the tote bag.”) (quoting California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35, 40 (1988)).

Police received a suspicious vehicle report from a McDonald’s near an interstate that had been robbed before. They found two people asleep who gave nonsensical explanations and the license of the vehicle did not exist. It all added up to reasonable suspicion. The request for consent and giving it was valid. United States v. Espinal, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151179 (N.D. Ga. August 29, 2011).*