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Two cases on REP

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Putting property in somebody else's basement was a waiver of an expectation of privacy. Commonwealth v. Williams, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 23 (February 12, 2009): In applying these factors to this case, we conclude that the judge ruled correctly that the defendant lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in the basement area in which she had deposited some possessions. The defendant clearly did not own the area, nor did she have a lease or other property interest. She lacked permission to stay there. Nor did she control access to the area: the tenants of the building used the basement for storage; members of the defendant's family had access for maintenance or other purposes; and other people apparently could enter, as the police did, by going through an unlocked door...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).