NC: Going to back door after no answer in a knock-and-talk violates Jardines

Police went to do a knock-and-talk and nobody answered at the front door. Going to the back door, ostensibly as an extension of the knock-and-talk, violated curtilage under Jardines. What was seen went into a search warrant application, and it is suppressed. State v. Ellis, 2019 N.C. App. LEXIS 537 (June 18, 2019).

Defendant argued his due process rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated, but “there is no Fourth Amendment right to due process.” His traffic stop in a high-crime area resulted in officers seeing a gun under the seat. The search of the car was justified under the automobile exception or as a protective sweep for the gun. United States v. Williams, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100691 (W.D.Ky. June 17, 2019) (The court erroneously refers to it as a “search incident” to an arrest with a protective sweep. It was valid under Michigan v. Long which is merely reasonable suspicion based. It was “incident” to a search, but that phrase should be avoided except where required.).