Commonwealth v. Leslie

Summary

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a warrantless police entry into the side yard and porch area of a three-family home constituted a search under the Fourth Amendment and art. 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights. Applying the curtilage factors from United States v. Dunn and the physical-intrusion framework of Florida v. Jardines, the court concluded that the search was unlawful and affirmed the suppression of a sawed-off shotgun.

Holdings

1. The side yard and porch area of the three-family home were within the home's curtilage and therefore constituted a constitutionally protected area under the Fourth Amendment and article 14.
2. Detective Griffin's warrantless physical intrusion into the side yard and porch area to search for the weapon was an unlicensed search for constitutional purposes.
3. The court declined to reach the merits of the Commonwealth's probable-cause and exigent-circumstances argument because the Commonwealth failed to raise it below and therefore waived it.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the side yard and porch area of a multifamily home may constitute curtilage protected by the Fourth Amendment and article 14.
2. Whether the police officer's warrantless physical intrusion into the side yard and porch area was an unlicensed search requiring a warrant.
3. Whether the Commonwealth could justify the warrantless search based on probable cause or exigent circumstances despite not raising that argument below.

Disposition

affirmed