In more than 30 years of defending Controlled Substance charges, I have handled many cases where police applied for a search warrant after finding evidence of drugs in the garbage. If the police do not follow the proper procedure for searching someone’s trash, there may be a basis to get the search warrant thrown out.

The 4th Amendment protects all people against unreasonable search and seizure. With very few exceptions, the right to privacy prevents the police from searching a home without a valid search warrant issued by a judge. But the Fourth Amendment does not prevent police from searching garbage that has been left out for collection away from the home in a manner where a person would no longer reasonably expect the garbage to remain private. Minnesota courts have consistently held that garbage left on a curb or adjacent to an alley for routine pickup can be searched by police without a warrant. If the police find evidence in the trash to establish probable cause for drug use, they can then apply for a warrant to search inside the home.

But there are still ways to challenge the validity of a search warrant based on what police found in the trash. It is important to review whether the garbage was actually left out for collection. The police also must explain the details of how and when the garbage search was conducted. It is not enough for the police to apply for a search warrant by claiming they conducted a “refuse inventory” or “garbage pull” without showing how the garbage search was done, whether it was done after the garbage was considered abandoned, and when it was done.