MA: Host could not consent to search of guest’s bag in bedroom

Defendant was the suspect in a string of burglaries and thefts to support a drug habit, and the police went where he was staying to get consent. A guest’s backpack and shopping bag in a house could not be the subject of consent by the host. Commonwealth v. Magri, 462 Mass. 360, 968 N.E.2d 876 (2012):

Thus, the crucial question is whether the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his bags that were in Barnes’s bedroom. It is well settled that an overnight guest maintains an expectation of privacy in luggage stored in a host’s dwelling. See, e.g., United States v. Davis, 332 F.3d 1163, 1167-1168 (9th Cir. 2003); United States v. Salinas-Cano, 959 F.2d 861, 864-865 (10th Cir. 1992); United States v. Wilson, 536 F.2d 883, 884-885 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 982 (1976). See also 4 W.R. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 8.5(d), at 231-232 & n.104 (4th ed. 2004) (“Among the articles which it would seem would most commonly be deserving of the ‘high expectation of privacy’ label in the host-guest context would be the overnight bag or suitcase or similar object brought to the premises by the guest”).

Although the bags in this case were not traditional luggage, there is no reasoned basis to draw a legal distinction between a guest’s containers based on the materials from which they are made, their shape, or the mechanism by which they are closed. Cf. Commonwealth v. Linton, 456 Mass. 534, 557 (2010) (defendant held expectation of privacy in backpack he brought to his brother’s house for extended visit). The Commonwealth makes no claim that the bags were not closed. We conclude that the defendant maintained a reasonable expectation of privacy in both his backpack and the shopping bag.