D.Me.: Just having your stuff in a motel room rented by another doesn’t prove you’re an overnight guest

One defendant failed to even attempt to show standing in a motel room rented by a third man. The second defendant failed, too, but he was a little closer to the mark. Just having stuff in the room alone isn’t enough: “ A defendant’s ‘bald assertion that he was an overnight guest’ is not enough to establish that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in a residence, particularly where, as here, the assertion appears only in an affidavit. United States v. Reyes-Bosque, 596 F.3d 1017, 1027 (9th Cir. 2010). Indeed, in Reyes-Bosque, the court cited favorably a similar case in which the defendant’s wallet, baptismal certificate, and application for a social security card were found in the premises at issue were found to be insufficient, in combination with the defendant’s assertion of an expectation of privacy. Id.” United States v. Bonnett, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101301 (D.Me. August 3, 2015)

Here, “The CI’s reliability was neither established nor was it independently corroborated by police investigation.” It was so lacking that the good faith exception does not apply either. State v. Kiser, 2015-Ohio-3076, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2991 (6th Dist. July 31, 2015).