Court Opinion

ID: 9721871
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:11:28.549318+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:29.030829
License: Public Domain

Krivosha, C.J.,
concurring.
I concur fully with the results reached by the majority in this case. I write separately, however, because I think it unnecessary for us to decide whether appellant had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the calf shed where the blue jeans were found in this case that would give rise to a fourth amendment right.
We have found in this case that a search warrant was obtained which, by description, included the calf shed as part of the curtilage. Having made that determination, I see no purpose in declaring that appellant had a legitimate expectation of privacy under the facts.
The facts disclose that appellant did not even know that the blue jeans had been placed in the calf shed and that, in fact, they had been hidden by appellant’s wife without his knowledge or permission. Does one have a legitimate expectation of privacy in property which has been unknowingly taken from one and hidden without one’s knowledge? The recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions of Rawlings v. Kentucky, U.S — , 100 S. Ct. 2556, 65 L. Ed. 2d 633 (1980), and United States v. Salvucci _ U.S. _, 100 S. Ct. 2547, 65 L. Ed. 2d 619 (1980), at least raise some serious question about when a person has a legitimate expectation of privacy so that a claim based upon a fourth amendment violation can be raised or entertained. Unlike the majority who specifically find herein that, under the facts, appellant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the calf shed, I would defer that question to another time and another case. Here, there was a warrant which did include the shed. Our discussion about appellant’s legitimate expectation of privacy seems to me to be gratuitous. I would await answering the question of whether *337one has a legitimate expectation of privacy in absconded property to a case which requires us to answer that question after the parties have fully and adequately briefed and argued the question to us. The answer to that question may not be quite as clear as we have indicated in our majority opinion today.