In U.S. v. Taylor, No. 05-10658 (July 28, 2006), the Court, rejecting the defendant’s argument that his property was searched in violation of the Fourth Amendment, affirmed a defendant’s conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm.
After two 911 calls were placed to police from the same number, with the caller hanging up immediately, police were sent to the place from which the calls originated. The property, which belonged to Taylor, was a five acre lot. On the property were a home, a nearby barn, and a pond 60 yards from the home. When police arrived, they drove by the gate to the home, which was open and saw Taylor walking toward them from the barn. Based on Taylor’s answers, police suspected that a violent domestic argument had just occured, and they asked for Taylor’s consent to search the barn. Finding nothing in the barn, the police followed a trail of fresh footsteps to the pond, where they saw a bag, which contained a gun. The gun was the basis for the felon-in-possession prosecution.
Citing the "knock and talk" exception to the warrant requirement, the Court noted that the police did not violate the Fourth Amendment by entering Taylor’s property and coming up to his house.
The Court further found that, although Taylor only consented to a search of his barn, this did not preclude police from searching the nearb pond. The Court noted that a consent is not necessary if the area searched is not within the curtilage of the home. Here, the pond was sixty yards from the house and thus not within its curtilage. Further, no activity on the pond was part of the intimate activity of the home. No enclosure surrounded both the home and the pond. And no steps were taken to protect the pond from observation by outsiders. The pond was the equivalent of an "open field," which could be searched by police without violating the Fourth Amendment.
