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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
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    10

    Default Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    Do they need a warrant to go thur your trash , and also noted on a warrant was suspicious activity , this is in phila. pa.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    Michigan
    Posts
    28,906

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    In Commonwealth v. Perdue, 564 A.2d 489, 493 (Pa.Super. 1989), appeal denied 524 Pa. 627, 574 A.2d 68 (1990), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that there is no objectively reasonable expectation of privacy with respect to a garbage bag or garbage can that has been placed outside for collection, because it is located in an area with public access and hence open to public inspection.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    38,867

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    well, let's ask Richard Nxon if they can go through your trash without a warrant.

    He says, " no they cannot" but even he was wrong.

    actually, it is dependent upon where the trash is and how it is presented (container)

    don;t understand the "suspicious activity" part of your post though.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    10

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    Police said that house had a lot of people going in and out (the house was being painted) and that was something that goes on when drugs are being sold so they got a warrant busted ed in nothing in the house

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
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    38,867

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    I see. It was one of the justifications for seeking the warrant.

    Did they find anything in the trash? If they had a search warrant, is there some reason you believe the trash was not covered under the warrant?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Posts
    10

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    They say that they found some stems and bags with cigar residue that is common with pot smokers, this happen at my sisters house who does not smoke pot work a good job is a single Mother and has MS , she also has never had any run in with the law,she was pushed to the ground and held down with the police foot on her neck. The trash was in the rear of her house in a bag, how can they prove that they found this in her trash. She had to go to the hospital for her neck and ask them to do a drug screen

  7. #7

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    If that is all they had the warrant and evidence can be supressed. That is not sufficient probable cause for the issuance of a warrant. She can also file a claim against the city for any medical expenses and damages. They do not have to perform a drug screen.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Posts
    38,867

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    there may be more PC than related here. I would suggest that if a judge did issue a search warrant, there is more than listed here.

    Hopefully she has an attorney. With what you have related, it does seem to be a weak case but we are often not told the entire story or often the poster does not even know the entire story.

    as to her having MS, unless she was in a wheelchair or had a sign around her neck, the police are not expected to know info as such. Depending on the entire situation, this may, or may not, have been exessive force. Too little info to make any true determination.

    Mkae sure she has a lawyer and let him do what they can to get things taken care of.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    643

    Default Re: Do The Police Need A Search Warrant To Go Through Trash

    Sounds a lot like California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1989), where the U.S. Supreme Court held that under the U.S. Constitution you have no legitimate expectation of privacy in trash set out for collection even though the trash was located within the curtilage of the residence. There, as there was no constitutional violation in searching the trash there was no opportunity to invoke the exclusionary rule to suppress any evidence. The defendant may have more protection under the Penn. Constitution. Getting a lawyer to deal with this issue in the context of the particular facts of her case is good advice.

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