State v. Guardarrama, 1604012801

Confidential informant told police Guardarrama sold marijuana and lived on Tulip Street; detectives corroborated by observing two Mercedes registered to him at 1615 Tulip Street.
Detectives conducted three early-morning "trash pulls" on designated pickup days from a brown receptacle at the curb fronting 1615 Tulip Street and found mail addressed to the residents, items testing positive for marijuana, and an airline boarding pass in the bags.
Based on the informant and trash-pull results, police obtained a search warrant for 1615 Tulip Street and executed it on April 18, 2016, seizing a .380 handgun, ammunition, scales, grinders, documents with Guardarrama's name, and small quantities of marijuana; Guardarrama was arrested.
Guardarrama moved to suppress evidence, arguing the trash seizures were unconstitutional (reasonable expectation of privacy/curtilage), so the trash-derived information should be excluded from the warrant affidavit and the ensuing search suppressed.
The court found the trash receptacle and bags were placed at the outer curb on a public sidewalk (outside the home's curtilage) and that trash left for collection is abandoned and readily accessible to the public.
The court denied the motion to suppress, holding the trash pulls were lawful and the magistrate properly considered the trash evidence in finding probable cause for the warrant.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Validity of trash seizures	State: trash pulls corroborated the CI and supported probable cause	Guardarrama: police improperly seized trash; he had reasonable expectation of privacy	Held for State: trash at curb was publicly accessible and properly seized
Curtilage	State: receptacle was on public sidewalk outside curtilage	Guardarrama: trash was within curtilage so seizure was a trespass/search	Held: receptacle located on outer curb/public sidewalk; not within curtilage
Inclusion of trash evidence in warrant affidavit	State: affidavit properly included trash findings to show probable cause	Guardarrama: trash-derived info must be excised; remaining affidavit insufficient	Held: trash evidence admissible; with it affidavit established fair probability of finding contraband
Suppression of search and seizure results	State: search valid based on warrant; seized items admissible	Guardarrama: search fruit of unlawful trash seizures; all evidence should be suppressed	Held for State: motion to suppress denied; search and seizures upheld

California v. Greenwood, 486 U.S. 35 (1988) (holding no reasonable expectation of privacy in garbage left for collection at curb)
United States v. Dunn, 480 U.S. 294 (1987) (articulating factors for curtilage analysis)
Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) (two-part reasonable-expectation-of-privacy test)
State v. Ranken, 25 A.3d 845 (Del. Super. Ct. 2010) (Delaware precedent applying Greenwood to curbside trash)