United States v. Sawyer, No. 18-2923 (7th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CasePolice responded to a reported residential burglary in progress. M.G. met officers at the property and stated that he owned the home as a rental property with no current tenants and that no one should be inside. M.G. spotted a window cracked open and, peering inside, he saw someone in the house. Officers banged on the door and ordered all the occupants outside. Sawyer and three others came out and stood with the officers on the porch. M.G. asked the officers to “check my house.” Inside, officers found a backpack; they opened it and discovered four guns. Outside, officers placed the four men in custody. The backpack was brought outside. An officer opened it, found a cell phone, gave Miranda warnings, and asked the arrestees who owned the phone. Sawyer responded that it was his phone and bag. Sawyer later denied it was his bag. Sawyer moved to suppress the contents of the backpack and his statements. The government successfully argued that Sawyer failed to provide evidence that he had a subjective expectation of privacy in the backpack and that, as a trespasser, Sawyer had no legitimate expectation of privacy; officers had obtained the owner's consent to search the home. Sawyer conditionally pleaded guilty to knowingly possessing a firearm as a felon. The Seventh Circuit affirmed. The officers were entitled to search the backpack as part of their ongoing investigation of a burglary; Sawyer, as a trespasser, had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the backpack he brought in when he unlawfully entered the premises.
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