State v. Robinson

Summary

The South Carolina Supreme Court affirmed as modified the court of appeals' decision upholding Jomar Antavis Robinson's convictions for drug, weapons, and resisting-arrest offenses. The court held that Robinson failed to establish an actual and reasonable expectation of privacy in the porch of an apartment he did not own, rent, or otherwise have a demonstrated connection to, and therefore could not challenge the alleged Fourth Amendment trespass. The court declined to decide whether the officers' conduct was independently unlawful or whether Robinson waived objection to the marijuana evidence.

Holdings

1. Even when the alleged Fourth Amendment violation is an unauthorized trespass under the property-based test recognized in United States v. Jones and Florida v. Jardines, the defendant must establish that the trespass invaded his own actual and reasonable expectation of privacy. An alleged trespass alone does not permit a defendant to vicariously assert another person's Fourth Amendment rights.
2. Robinson failed to establish an actual and reasonable expectation of privacy in the porch of Apartment 122 and therefore could not challenge the alleged unlawful entry or suppress the seized gun and drugs on that basis.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Robinson established that the officers' warrantless entry onto the porch of Apartment 122 violated his own Fourth Amendment rights.
2. Whether a defendant alleging a trespass-based Fourth Amendment violation must demonstrate an actual and reasonable expectation of privacy in the area entered by police.

Disposition

affirmed