Fourth Circuit: Apartment Front Door Was Not Curtilage
In U.S. v. Johnson, 148 F.4th 287 (4th Cir. 2025) (summarized here), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit recently rejected a Fourth Amendment challenge to a canine […]
August 7, 2018
Defensive Force in the Home
We now have a number of appellate opinions interpreting the defensive force statutes enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 2011. In State v. Kuhns, ___ N.C. App. ___ […]
June 4, 2018
Even When the Controlled Buys Happen at the Back Door, Knock and Talks Must Happen at the Front Door
I’ve blogged before about whether law enforcement officers may go to a side door, or the back door, when attempting to conduct a knock-and-talk. The court of appeals just decided […]
May 30, 2018
Collins v. Virginia: Supreme Court Directs Traffic at the Intersection of the Automobile Exception and Searches of the Home
An officer sees a motorcycle that he has probable cause to believe is stolen parked in the suspect’s driveway. The motorcycle is partially covered by a tarpaulin. May the officer […]
January 10, 2017
North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Search of Vehicle Located on Premises as Within Scope of Search Warrant
The North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Lowe (December 21, 2016) ruled that a search warrant validly authorized a search of a vehicle parked on the driveway of the […]
February 16, 2015
North Carolina Supreme Court Upholds Warrantless Seizure of Drugs on a Home’s Curtilage
The Fourth Amendment protects the home as well as its curtilage, which is defined as the area immediately surrounding the home and associated with it. Recently, the North Carolina Supreme […]
January 29, 2015
State v. Williford: Gumshoes, Trash, Parking Lots and DNA
Kathy Taft was bludgeoned and raped on March 5, 2010, as she lay in the bedroom of a friends’ home in Raleigh recovering from surgery. She died four days later. […]
October 22, 2012
Going to the Back Door
The court of appeals just decided a case that’s important for officers, as well as lawyers and judges, to know about. The case is State v. Pasour, and it began […]
October 11, 2012
Multi-Unit Dwellings and Curtilage
I blogged previously about whether the concept of curtilage applies to multi-unit dwellings like duplexes and apartment buildings. It’s an interesting question, and the cases summarized in the prior post […]
May 18, 2011
Do Multi-Unit Dwellings Have Curtilage?
The curtilage of a home is the area “directly and intimately connected with the [home] and in proximity” to it. State v. Courtright, 60 N.C. App. 247 (1983). In other […]
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