SUPREME COURT: GARBAGE SEARCH UPHELD

Without comment, the court refused to consider a case raising the issue of
whether police have the right to conduct a warrantless search of a
homeowner's trash when the trash can is adjacent to the house or garage,
well within the property line.

In a 1988 case, the court upheld the search of a garbage can left at the
curb. But in the case Monday, an appeal from a narcotics conviction, an
ordinance in Urbana, Ill., prohibited leaving trash at the curb, so Joseph
Redmon, the owner of a town house, placed his can for collection at the top
of his 28-foot driveway.

A drug task force, which had him under surveillance, searched the trash and
found evidence of cocaine. That enabled the agents to get a warrant to
search the house, where they found more incriminating evidence and arrested
Redmon.

The case produced a sharp split on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in
Chicago, which upheld the search and conviction by 8-5 with several
vigorously argued opinions. "Most urban dwellers would be shocked to learn
that the portion of a driveway immediately adjacent to the garage door is
considered by this court to be an 'open field,' " Judge Ilana Rovner said
in one dissenting opinion. Under Supreme Court precedents, police do not
need a warrant to search an open field.