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IL: Knock-and-talk could go to back door, too, when meth was smelled

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A knock-and-talk at the back door permitted the officer to look in a garbage can from which the smell of meth was coming from. Then, a person coming out of the house could be detained. People v. Redman, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 1066 (October 31, 2008): Therefore, when Officer Brown approached the back door and smelled the strong odor, consistent with methamphetamine manufacturing, emanating from the open garbage can, he lawfully peered inside the open garbage can. Such action constituted neither a search nor a seizure. Specifically, defendant did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the garbage can because the lid was pushed down, perpendicular to the ground, into the garbage can, exposing the contents to anyone who passed by the garbage can on his or her way to the back door...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 07, 2008 (boomark / email).