Opinion ID: 74370
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Motion for an Evidentiary Hearing

Text: 3 We note that the Supreme Court has qualified the holding of Olson to some extent. In Minnesota v. Carter, __ U.S. __, 119 S. Ct. 469, 474 (1998), the Court held that in order to establish a reasonable expectation of privacy in a third-party’s home, an individual must demonstrate she is a guest on the premises for a personal occasion, rather than for strictly a commercial purpose. Because the evidence in this case suggests Defendants were using the hotel room predominantly to engage in narcotics trafficking, Defendants likely would lack standing even if they had been the overnight guests of Gonzalez. 9 Defendants also appeal the district court’s refusal to hold an evidentiary hearing on the issue of standing, arguing that had the district court granted them a hearing, they would have demonstrated a reasonable expectation of privacy in the hotel room. We review the district court’s action for abuse of discretion. See Richardson, 764 F.2d at 1527. As this court held in Sneed: [W]here a defendant in a motion to suppress fails to allege facts that if proved would require the grant of relief, the law does not require that the district court hold a hearing independent of the trial to receive evidence on any issue necessary to the determination of the motion. 732 F.2d at 888. Based on our holding that Defendants’ motion to suppress was wholly lacking in sufficient factual allegations to establish standing, the district court did not abuse its discretion in refusing to hold an evidentiary hearing. Defendants are not entitled to an evidentiary hearing based on a “promise” to prove at the hearing that which they did not specifically allege in their motion to suppress.