N.H. Court Trashes Private Garbage Search

NW Cable News ^ | 09/30/03 | KATHARINE WEBSTER

[bedolido]

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled Monday that garbage is private, even when it has been put out near the street for collection.

The 4-1 decision runs counter to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and high courts in most other states. But the court said New Hampshire's constitution provides a stronger expectation of privacy than the U.S. Constitution.

The decision came in a case in which police searched a man's trash and found wire scrapers coated with marijuana residue.

Based on that and the observation that John Goss appeared to have a light for growing plants, police got a warrant to search his home, where they seized marijuana and three pipes.

Goss appealed, saying it was illegal for police to search his garbage without a warrant.

The high court agreed and ordered a lower court judge to decide whether the search warrant for Goss' home could have been obtained without the illegal evidence.

"Personal letters, bills, receipts, prescription bottles and similar items that are regularly disposed of in household trash disclose information about the resident that few people would want to be made public," Justice Joseph Nadeau said.

"Nor do we believe that people voluntarily expose such information to the public when they leave trash, in sealed bags, out for regular collection."

Justice John Broderick dissented, citing a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it was unreasonable for people to expect their trash to remain private, given that "plastic garbage bags left on or at the side of a public street are readily accessible to animals, children, scavengers, snoops, and other members of the public."

[gunnedah]

If the States Constitution overides the US Constitution the South was right!

[prairiebreeze]

"Nor do we believe that people voluntarily expose such information to the public when they leave trash, in sealed bags, out for regular collection."

No expectation of personal responsibility here either it seems. I never place personal information in garbage for precisely the reason that I can't reasonably expect that somehow it won't end up in the hands of sombody else.

Shredders aren't too costly to purchase. I use mine almost daily to dispose of trash with personal information on it. This isn't rocket science.

Prairie

[bc2]

Of course this is correct, and the only reason it was ever allowed to NOT be correct, was to further the War on Drugs.

Which, to those with a half of a brain still functioning, or those who are not bent on power, is a war of control over people. Maybe at one point in it's history, the WOD was meant to eradicate drugs and drug abuse in this nation, but now it has spawned a multi-billion dollar industry of empowered criminals, corrupt politicians, police and judges, a prison industrial complex, and the destruction of liberties for all Americans.

Amendment 2 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 4 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 5 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 6 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 8 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 9 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.
Amendment 10 is being destroyed, thanks to WOD.

Asset forfitures are happening, even when people are not actually charged with a crime, or when they have been found not guilty at trial.

The gun control advocates are having a field day, calling for (and getting) more and more gun laws, thanks to criminals who have lined their pockets from the artificially inflated prices of drugs.

Prosecuter didn't get a conviction on a State drug law? Well, so much for double jeapordy, we'll charge you at the Federal level!

Drugs can be found in every town, in every school, and in maximum security prisons.

It's sad that the current policies are not only not working, they are doing far more harm than good.

We need to simultaniously dismantle the horrible, crushing welfare state, and the tyrannical nanny state that has taken the life from this once great country. More harm has been done to our Constitution, to our justice system, and to our society by the Federal drug prohibition, than has been solved.

My God, people... they think it's OK to search your garbage! They think it's OK to fly over your home with infared cameras to detect the heat of a growroom!

This is no longer a free country. Our Constitution has been destroyed in large part thanks to the War on Drugs, and those who support it.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Is using a shredder prima facie evidence of wrongdoing yet?

[razorback-bert]

the observation that John Goss appeared to have a light for growing plants

[bc2]

ping

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[MrLeRoy]

If the States Constitution overides the US Constitution the South was right!

State and municipal police are bound by the state constitution. Have a problem with that?

[PaulJ]

I'm certainly no lawyer, but doesn't federal law always trump state law?

[Dan(9698)]

Libertarians arguments always resolve to: "I want to smoke pot."

[Wolfie]

The Feds can start going through garbage all they want, just not State and local police.

[dirtboy]

I'm certainly no lawyer, but doesn't federal law always trump state law?

Only when there is a federal law in question. When it comes to Constitutional guarantees, a state can always provide greater guarantees than the U.S. Constitution unless that runs afoul of specific federal laws - for example, a state could not pass a law that outlawed background checks for gun purchases in that state.

[CSM]

I thought it was ruled a long time ago that a persons trash, once taken to the street, was as good as public property! I thought it was commonly used in investigations and gossip mags.

I am not sure how I feel about this decision, but based on the extremely nitpicky evidence found I don't think the cops should be spending their time looking for "wires with mj residue" in people's garbage. It sounds like they had it out for this guy from the start and this is all they could do to get him.

[blackdog]

The thing I take issue with is that the garbage is not secured evidence. It could easily be enriched by prosecutorial motives. When acting on a warrant, specific items or places are specified for search. The process is witnessed, catalogued, and documented.

A zealous effort fueled by asset forfeiture, directed by the police chief's desire to live in your nice split level he's always wanted is quite likely in many municipalities.

A good tactic for us paranoid types would be to swap garbage with alternate neighbors, or to pool your curbside pile with your two adjoining neighbors in order to confuse the posse.

Like we don't have enough to do.....

[jmc813]

Libertarians arguments always resolve to: "I want to smoke pot."

Thank you for that insightful bit of information. What do Libertarians have to do with this article though?

[Orangedog]

Is using a shredder prima facie evidence of wrongdoing yet?

If not, it will likely be considered destruction of "evidence," and if you talked to anyone in your house about the paper shredder it could be construed as "conspiracy" to destroy evidence.

[xrp]

No, its about freedom, liberty and self-ownership. You don't own my body, so as long as I am not harming you or anyone else, I can do what I wish with my body. You have no right to tell me what I can and can not do with my body. Got it?

[CSM]

You are truely a devious person! I love it. Your responses always make me smile. This situation makes me want to go purchase some drug paraphanalia (sp?) and put it in the cheif's garbage. Then call in an anonymous tip to rat him out! From ther it could be the local mayors, different law makers, etc.