NY3: Tossing backpack from one’s window into the window of the abandoned house next door to avoid seizure is a waiver of REP

When the police came to his house, defendant threw a backpack with a sawed-off rifle from his second floor window into a window of the house next door. He claimed that house was his uncle’s, but it was unsecured and apparently abandoned because the door was always open and it was dusty and dirty inside. That was a waiver of any reasonable expectation of privacy in the backpack. Also, his jail calls made with his phone account PIN had no reasonable expectation of privacy. People v. Logan, 2021 NY Slip Op 05893, 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5935 (3d Dept. Oct. 28, 2021).

Defendant’s car was stopped for suspected shoplifting, the LPN and description matching the radio report. The passenger admitted the theft. There was thus probable cause for a search of the car. The police had independent evidence of him being involved in the local meth trade. A search warrant for his house was also executed. All the searches were valid. State v. Warburton, 30 Neb. App. 315, 2021 Neb. App. LEXIS 250 (Oct. 26, 2021).*