CA1: Visitor’s backpack could be searched during a drug raid with SW

Appellant was a visitor with a backpack on the premises when a search warrant was executed, and the backpack was searched. The search was valid. “That Congo was not identified in the warrant as a co-conspirator is simply not relevant in this case to the question of whether his backpack, a container in the apartment subject to a valid search warrant, was properly subject to search.” (Also, there was no plain error in executing the warrant without knocking.) United States v. Congo, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 37303 (1st Cir. Dec. 17, 2021).

Defendant’s 2254 habeas claim that there was no meaningful review of his search and seizure claim is still barred by Stone. In fact, there was a contested motion to suppress he lost, and then an appeal to the court of appeals and review in the state supreme court. Baker v. Deville, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 241032 (E.D.La. Dec. 17, 2021).*