California v. Greenwood
| California v. Greenwood | |
|---|---|
|
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| Argued January 11, 1988 Decided May 16, 1988 |
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| Full case name | California v. Billy Greenwood and Dyanne Van Houten |
| Citations | 486 U.S. 35 (more)
108 S.Ct. 1625, 56 USLW 4409, 100 L.Ed.2d 30
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| Prior history | Drug charges against defendants dismissed by California Superior Court (unpublished). Affirmed, California Court of Appeal, 182 Cal.App.3d 729 (1986). Certiorari granted, 483 U.S. 1019 (1987). |
| Holding | |
| The Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of waste left for collection outside the curtilage of a home. California Court of Appeal reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | White, joined by Rehnquist, Blackmun, Stevens, O'Connor, Scalia |
| Dissent | Brennan, joined by Marshall |
| Kennedy took no part in the consideration or decision of the case. | |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. IV, XIV; Cal. Const., Art. I, § 28(d) | |
California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Fourth Amendment does not prohibit the warrantless search and seizure of garbage left for collection outside the curtilage of a home.
In early 1984, Investigator Jenny Stracner of the Laguna Beach Police Department learned from various sources that Billy Greenwood might be selling illegal drugs out of his single-family home. In April, Stracner asked the neighborhood's regular trash collector to pick up the plastic garbage bags that Greenwood left on the curb in front of his house. In the garbage, she found evidence of drug use. She used that information to obtain a warrant to search Greenwood's home. When officers searched the house, they found cocaine and marijuana. Greenwood and Dyanne Van Houten were arrested and released on bail.
In May, another investigator again had the garbage collectors pick up the garbage bags left on the curb. The garbage again contained evidence of drugs, the police obtained another search warrant, and they found more drugs and evidence of drug trafficking in the house.
The California Superior Court dismissed the charges against Greenwood and Van Houten on the ground that unwarranted trash searches violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment, as well as the California Constitution. The Court of Appeal affirmed. The Supreme Court of California refused to hear the appeal. The U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari and reversed the judgment of the California Court of Appeal.
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