Opinion ID: 2104647
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Entry and Search of Tyrone Wells' Apartment

Text: Appellant challenges the legality of both the police entry and their search of Tyrone Wells' apartment and the subsequent arrest. In contesting the entry, appellant argues that the trial court erred in ruling that, because he was a guest in Wells' apartment, he had no standing to challenge the entry. In support of his position, appellant cites Minnesota v. Olson, 495 U.S. 91, 110 S.Ct. 1684, 109 L.Ed.2d 85 (1990), in which the Supreme Court held that an overnight guest in someone's home had standing to challenge an illegal search of the home because society would recognize as reasonable the guest's expectation of privacy there. Id., 110 S.Ct. at 1689-90. In order to prevail on a motion to suppress, the movant must establish both that he [or she] had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the area searched, and that, in fact, the search was illegal. Moore v. United States, 468 A.2d 1342, 1345 (D.C.1983). Appellant can establish neither. This court has held, after Olson, that a visitor has the burden of showing that he or she was an invited overnight guest in order to establish a reasonable expectation of privacy in the host's home. See Lewis v. United States, 594 A.2d 542, 545 (D.C.1991). Appellant was not an overnight guest at Wells' home. He had been in the apartment only three or four minutes when the police arrived. Several other persons were present in the room with appellant. These factors all cut[ ] against normal expectations of privacy. See United States v. Robinson, 225 U.S.App. D.C. 282, 288, 698 F.2d 448, 454 (1983) (appellant who was a guest and was found in room with another person in home where several others were also present did not have standing to challenge warrantless search). [8]