Opinion

State v. Brown

  • 212 Ga. App. 800
  • 94 Fulton County D. Rep. 1284
  • 442 S.E.2d 818
  • 1994 Ga. App. LEXIS 386
Court
Court of Appeals of Georgia
Filed
Mar 14, 1994
Status
Published
Author
Andrews
On the bench
Birdsong, Pope, McMurray, Beasley, Cooper, Johnson, Smith, Andrews, Blackburn
Cited by
11 cases
Authority
More cited than 6.7%

holding that defendant had a legitimate expectation of privacy in someone else’s apartment when he was a frequent welcome social visitor, he left possessions there, and he had spent the night as a social guest

How later courts described this case

  • holding that defendant had a legitimate expectation of privacy in someone else’s apartment when he was a frequent welcome social visitor, he left possessions there, and he had spent the night as a social guest
  • status of overnight guest at another’s home is alone enough to establish reasonable expectation of privacy

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

Andrews, Judge,

dissenting.

Accepting the facts as set out in the majority opinion, I do not believe Brown had standing to contest the officer’s entry into and search of the apartment and, therefore, I respectfully dissent.

There is no dispute that the apartment which Brown entered was that of Ms. J. Tabb who resided there with her children and boyfriend. Brown dated Ms. Tabb’s sister and had permission to be in the apartment. This, however, does not bestow the requisite standing for purposes of asserting violation of federal Fourth Amendment rights and similar rights under the Georgia Constitution.

At most, Brown was a visitor in the apartment. “ ‘[A]s a mere visitor ... he had no expectation of privacy in the premises of another, where he had neither a proprietary nor a possessory interest. [Cits.]’ [Cit.] ‘The Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure is a personal right and may not be asserted vicariously. Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U. S. 128 (1) ( 99 S. Ct. 421 , 58 L. Ed. 2d 387 ). And, an individual who claims he is aggrieved by an illegal search and seizure only through the introduction of evidence secured by a search of a third person’s premises has not had any of his Fourth Amendment rights infringed. Id.’ ” Delgado v. State, 192 Ga. App. 356, 357 ( 384 SE2d 680 ) (1989). E.g., Byers v. State, 204 Ga. App. 552, 554 (1) ( 420 SE2d 23 ) (1992); Morgan v. State, 195 Ga. App. 732, 736 (4) ( 394 SE2d 639 ) (1990); Rich v. State, 188 Ga. App. 287, 288 (1) ( 372 SE2d 670 ) (1988).

I am authorized to state that Judge Blackburn joins in this dissent.

*805 Allison C. Griffin, for appellee.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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