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Without comment, the court refused to consider a case raising the issue of whether police have the right to conduct a warrantless search of a homeowner's trash when the trash can is adjacent to the house or garage, well within the property line. In a 1988 case, the court upheld the search of a garbage can left at the curb. But in the case Monday, an appeal from a narcotics conviction, an ordinance in Urbana, Ill., prohibited leaving trash at the curb, so Joseph Redmon, the owner of a town house, placed his can for collection at the top of his 28-foot driveway. A drug task force, which had him under surveillance, searched the trash and found evidence of cocaine. That enabled the agents to get a warrant to search the house, where they found more incriminating evidence and arrested Redmon. The case produced a sharp split on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which upheld the search and conviction by 8-5 with several vigorously argued opinions. "Most urban dwellers would be shocked to learn that the portion of a driveway immediately adjacent to the garage door is considered by this court to be an 'open field,' " Judge Ilana Rovner said in one dissenting opinion. Under Supreme Court precedents, police do not need a warrant to search an open field. Copyright 1999 The News and Observer Publishing Company In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, news clippings are made available without profit for research and educational purposes. |
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