Fully define the categories of abandonment and the subsequent impact on evidence seized and the use of, or exception to, the exclusionary rule in each situation

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The test for abandonment in the search and seizure context is distinct from the property notion of abandonment: it is possible for a person to retain a property interest in an item, but nonetheless to relinquish his or her reasonable expectation of privacy in the object. Persons who flee the police with illegal drugs or other contraband on their person often throw away what can be very incriminating evidence. If the throwaway is a voluntary abandonment of the object, courts allow the object to be used as evidence against the person. But if the throwaway is the direct or indirect product of an illegal police stop or other improper police conduct, courts generally forbid the use of the throwaway item as evidence. It is generally held that persons who rent hotel rooms or storage lockers using an alias or under the name on a stolen credit card have no expectation of privacy in the room or storage locker. The same is true for drivers of a rental car not authorized in the rental agreement, even if driving with the permission of the person who rented the car. Persons who deny ownership of property to a law enforcement officer relinquish their right of privacy in the property and do not later have standing to challenge the use of evidence obtained from the property. The owners of trash receptacles kept in a home or a garage have Fourth Amendment constitutional protection while the receptacles are located in such places. One who disposes of personal property in a trash receptacle placed at curb side for collection, or in a commonly used receptacle, or in a refuse pile accessible to the public generally is held to have abandoned the property.
- A former possessor retains no reasonable expectation of privacy in abandoned property, and thus has no standing to object to its seizure or inspection.
- Warrantless entry by police or their agents to a constitutionally protected area, such as the yard or garage, in order to gain access to trash, may taint the search or seizure, regardless of the intent of the possessor to abandon.
- Officers contemplating a warrantless trash inspection should be thoroughly familiar with state as well as federal principles governing the search or seizure of trash because state courts may impose more restrictive rules than those announced by federal courts.