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OH8: Eviction notice does not make an apartment dweller a trespasser; entry without SW invalid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant apartment dweller who had been served with an eviction notice was still in lawful possession when the police entered without a warrant. Therefore, the entry was invalid because he was not a trespasser at that time. State v. Dennis, 2009 Ohio 2173, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 1848 (2d Dist. May 8, 2009): [*P26] We therefore turn to whether Dennis retained a reasonable expectation of privacy in Apartment F when the officers entered without a warrant on August 17, 2007. Dennis claims that the evidence was insufficient to establish that he was a trespasser -- and, consequently, that he no longer had a reasonable expectation of privacy -- because he was still in "lawful possession" of the apartment since there was no evidence that the proper legal procedures for eviction had been completed under R...continue to full post

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