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CA9: Area around a dispersed campsite was not curtilage

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant consented to a search of his campsite for a shotgun by a nod of the head. The court declined to find the area around his campsite was curtilage and not open fields, notwithstanding that there is an expectation of privacy in a camp tent. United States v. Basher, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1064 (9th Cir. January 20, 2011): Classifying the area outside of a tent in a National Park or National Forest lands campsite as curtilage would be very problematic. A tent is comparable to a house, apartment, or hotel room because it is a private area where people sleep and change clothing. See Gooch, 6 F.3d at 677. However, campsites, such as the dispersed, ill-defined site here, are open to the public and exposed. In United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S. 294, 107 S...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 23, 2011 (boomark / email).