In U.S. v. Eric Dustin Johnson, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals took up the issue of “whether an individual can have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in a storage unit rented with a stolen identity.” From the court opinion:
During a search of a storage unit that Defendant-Appellant Eric Johnson’s girlfriend had rented in someone else’s name, police discovered two firearms. Johnson eventually entered a conditional guilty plea to one count of being a felon in possession of firearms, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He conditioned his plea on the right to challenge on appeal the district court’s decision not to suppress the evidence that was discovered during the search of the storage unit. The district court had ruled that the police’s warrantless search of the storage unit did not violate Johnson’s Fourth Amendment rights because Johnson had “forfeited” any privacy rights he might have had in the storage unit by directing his girlfriend to enter into the rental agreement using another person’s name and stolen identification. We agree.
Hat-tip, How Appealing.