United States v. Guzman.
No. 24-2122. 8/8/2025. D.N.M. Judge Matheson. Permission to Stay on Property With Substandard Buildings—Felon in Possession of a Firearm—Reasonable Expectation of Privacy—Motion to Suppress—Fourth Amendment.
August 8, 2025
Cannon owned property in Albuquerque on which the City of Albuquerque (the city) declared two buildings to be substandard. The city ordered the buildings vacated, secured the building entrances, and posted identical yellow notices on the doors advising that the buildings were substandard, unsafe, and could not be occupied. After the buildings were declared substandard, Cannon let a friend park a camper trailer in the property’s backyard. No posted notice was on the trailer. Albuquerque police officers and a city code enforcement supervisor later inspected Cannon’s property for compliance with Albuquerque’s housing code. The officers checked both buildings’ doors to make sure they were locked and then approached the trailer, which was unlocked. Upon opening the trailer door, officers found Guzman, who initially did not comply with commands to show his hands and exit the trailer. Guzman then paused in the doorway with his right hand hidden behind his back, and an officer heard a metal object hit wood, after which Guzman emerged from the trailer with his hands raised. While being handcuffed, Guzman told the officers he had the owner’s permission to stay on the property. One of the officers then stepped into the trailer, where he spotted and seized a revolver in plain sight. The officers walked to the front of the property, placed Guzman in the police car, and shortly thereafter arrested him on an outstanding misdemeanor warrant. A grand jury indicted Guzman for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Guzman moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the warrantless entry and search of the trailer, contending that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the trailer because Cannon allowed him to stay there and that the posted notices did not pertain to the trailer. He asserted that the officers violated his Fourth Amendment rights by opening his trailer door, seizing and handcuffing him, and searching the trailer. The district court denied the suppression motion, ruling that Guzman lacked standing to challenge the trailer search because he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Guzman then pleaded guilty as charged, retaining the right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion only on the grounds argued in district court.
On appeal, Guzman again argued that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the trailer and thus had Fourth Amendment standing to challenge the search. A defendant must first establish standing to challenge the lawfulness of a search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. Standing exists when the challenger has a legitimate expectation of privacy in the invaded place, which the defendant must establish by showing a subjective expectation of privacy in the property searched that society would recognize as objectively reasonable. A person lacks an objectively reasonable expectation of privacy where their presence is wrongful. Here, even assuming that Guzman had a subjective expectation of privacy in the trailer based on Cannon’s permission, society would not accept his subjective expectation as reasonable, given his own testimony that he read the posted signs informing him it was unlawful to reside on the property. He thus lacked standing to challenge the trailer search.
The denial of the suppression motion was affirmed.