Summary
This Fourth Circuit opinion addresses whether a warrantless drug-detection dog sniff conducted in a common hallway outside an apartment door constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. The court held that the sniff did not violate the defendant's reasonable expectation of privacy because it only reveals contraband, and it did not intrude on protected curtilage because the hallway is common property over which the tenant lacks a right to exclude others. The judgment of the district court denying the motion to suppress was affirmed.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether a warrantless narcotics-detection dog sniff at the door of an apartment in a common hallway violated the Fourth Amendment under the reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test.
- Whether the dog sniff constituted a Fourth Amendment search because officers physically intruded on protected curtilage immediately outside the apartment door.
Holdings
- A narcotics-detection dog sniff at the door of Johnson's apartment did not violate a reasonable expectation of privacy because the sniff could reveal only the presence or absence of illegal narcotics, in which there is no legitimate privacy interest.
- The common hallway immediately outside Johnson's apartment door was not protected curtilage, so conducting the dog sniff there was not a Fourth Amendment search.
Key quotations
“An unlicensed intrusion into that constitutionally protected area to gather evidence, the Court held, is a “search” for Fourth Amendment purposes.” (10)
“We hold only that on the facts as found by the district court and disputed by neither party, the police did not intrude on Fourth Amendment-protected curtilage when they conducted a dog sniff in the common hallway just outside Johnson’s apartment door.” (15)
Factual background
Law enforcement investigating a suspected fentanyl and heroin trafficking organization suspected that Johnson was trafficking drugs from Apartment 201 in a large multi-unit apartment complex. With building management's permission, officers entered the building and conducted a warrantless free-air scan with a certified drug-detection dog at the apartment's front door in a common hallway. The dog alerted near the lower door seam, and officers relied in part on that alert to obtain a search warrant; the ensuing search uncovered drugs, a handgun, ammunition, cash, cell phones, and other evidence of drug dealing.
Procedural history
A federal grand jury indicted Johnson for conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and heroin, possession with intent to distribute fentanyl and heroin, and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition. The United States District Court for the District of Maryland denied his motion to suppress, concluding that the dog sniff was not a Fourth Amendment search. Johnson proceeded to trial, was convicted on all counts, and was sentenced to 150 months in prison. The Fourth Circuit affirmed.