State of Minnesota v. David Ford McMurray, 860 N.W.2d 686

Tip from a mandated reporter led Hutchinson police to investigate David McMurray for suspected drug use; officer learned of prior drug arrests for McMurray and his wife.
Officer arranged with the commercial garbage truck driver to set aside McMurray’s curbside trash after collection; officer then retrieved and searched the trash at a prearranged location and found methamphetamine residue and identifying documents.
Based on the trash evidence and the report, police obtained a warrant to search McMurray’s home and found additional methamphetamine; McMurray was charged with third‑degree possession.
McMurray moved to suppress the evidence, arguing the warrantless seizure and search of his curbside trash violated Article I, §10 of the Minnesota Constitution; the district court denied suppression relying on State v. Oquist.
The court of appeals affirmed; the Minnesota Supreme Court granted review to decide whether Article I, §10 affords greater protection than the Fourth Amendment for warrantless searches of garbage placed in publicly accessible collection areas.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Article I, §10 of the Minnesota Constitution requires greater protection than the Fourth Amendment for warrantless searches of garbage set out for collection	McMurray: Minnesota Constitution should be read more broadly than the Fourth Amendment because garbage contains intimate personal data and modern disposal practices/ordinances support a privacy expectation	State: Greenwood controls; Minnesota precedent (Oquist) and federal majority view say no reasonable expectation of privacy in curbside garbage	The court: No principled basis to depart from federal precedent under Kahn factors; Article I, §10 does not provide greater protection here
Whether the seizure/search of McMurray’s curbside garbage (via truck driver) and subsequent house search were lawful	McMurray: Police seizure and search of trash (obtained from truck driver) violated state constitutional privacy protections and tainted the warrant for the house search	State: Trash at curb is exposed to public and may be seized/searched without a warrant; police lawfully obtained trash from collector and used it to support a warrant	The court: Under Greenwood and Oquist, McMurray had no reasonable expectation of privacy in curbside garbage; the warrantless trash search and the resulting house search were lawful; suppression denied

California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (U.S. 1988) (no reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage left at curb; warrantless search permissible)
Kahn v. Griffin, 701 N.W.2d 815 (Minn. 2005) (factors for when Minnesota Constitution may afford greater protection than U.S. Constitution)
State v. Oquist, 327 N.W.2d 587 (Minn. 1982) (Minnesota decision holding no reasonable expectation of privacy in curbside garbage)
Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (U.S. 1967) (reasonable-expectation-of-privacy framework)
Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (U.S. 2014) (recognition of the privacy interests implicated by modern digital devices)