They say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but in Minnesota, your trash could lead to a criminal conviction if you’re not careful. That’s because the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that civilians have no expectation of privacy once their trash is placed outside for collection, according to a ruling handed down Wednesday.
The case in question involved David McMurray, a Hutchinson man who had his home raided after authorities found residue that tested positive for meth in his garbage bin. Authorities used the evidence to obtain a search warrant, and a subsequent search of McMurray’s home ultimately led to a criminal drug conviction.
McMurray’s legal team argued that the Minnesota Constitution offers greater protections to a person’s belonging than the U.S. Constitution, which protects citizens against warantless and unreasonable searches and seizures. Unfortunately for McMurray, the Minnesota Supreme Court did not interpret the state constitution as being more vigilant about a person’s fourth amendment rights.
“Any member of the public could have accessed McMurray’s garbage without trespassing on his property, and police do not need a warrant to search items that are exposed to the public,” the majority found. They also cited a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that states warantless searches of garbage are legal.
Dissenting Opinion
Two justices agreed with McMurray’s defense in a dissenting opinion. Justices David Lillehaug and Alan Page said that because a person’s garbage sometimes contains personal health of financial information, people have a reasonable expectation that those items will remain private. They also condemned the idea that police could obtain DNA evidence by rifling through a person’s trash. The justices wrote that police should need to obtain a warrant prior to examining someone’s trash.
“Our basic rights and liberties are at risk if government can seize and search Minnesotans’ household waste without a search warrant and, apparently, without even a reasonable articulable suspicion of wrongdoing,” Lillehaug wrote.
McMurray’s legal team said they were disappointed with the decision.
Related source: Pioneer Press
