COURT: COPS VIOLATE PRIVACY BY LOOKING INTO HOME WINDOWS

SAN FRANCISCO -- A person has a reasonable expectation of privacy in his
home even while bagging cocaine in front of an open side-yard window, the
California Supreme Court decided Thursday.

In a 4-3 ruling, the court said police violated a drug defendant's rights
by walking into an open side yard late at night and observing the resident
through his bedroom window as he placed white powder into bags. The Fourth
Amendment to the Constitution forbids unreasonable searches by police.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, writing for the majority, said it was
reasonable for the defendant in the case, Cayetano Camacho, to expect that
no one would trespass on his property late at night and look into his
bedroom window, which could not be seen from the street.

The three justices who dissented complained that the court has imposed a
``narrow and rigid restraint on police'' in California.

The ruling ``sets a bright-line rule'' that if police do not have a
warrant, they must stay in locations where the public is implicitly invited
except in an emergency, said Deputy Attorney General Gary Lieberman.

The state is considering appealing the decision, People vs. Camacho, to the
U.S. Supreme Court, Lieberman added.