CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed a man’s convictions of arson, burglary, and other charges, saying a judge was wrong to rule that he didn’t have a legitimate expectation of privacy when officers searched a utility closet.
Last year, John Gates, of Kingston, was convicted of breaking into a convenience store, and then setting fire to the business. Police traced footprints in the snow to his home.
The officers, who didn’t have a warrant, found a pair of wet boots in Gates’ utility closet, and determined that the tread pattern matched the footprints. Before he went to trial, Gates moved to suppress all evidence police obtained from the closet; a judge ruled against him.
Gates argued that the closet door was closed; lawyers for the state said the closet was unlocked and unmarked with no signs designating it as a private space. They said Gates made no attempt to exclude others from the closet, and denied that the boots were his.
“We note that the door to the utility closet was not marked ‘private,’ nor was it locked,” the court wrote in its opinion. “We cannot conclude, however, that these facts outweigh the factors that support the recognition of the defendant’s objectively reasonable expectation of privacy in the utility closet.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.