Does an officer need a warrant to search backpacks which are left on a bus during a layover after a law enforcement officer tells the passengers to take all carry-on items past a drug-sniffing dog?
A. Yes. The backpacks were not abandoned because the owner did not objectively evidence any intent to abandon the objects by clear and unequivocal physical acts such as throwing them away, giving them to strangers or leaving them unguarded on public property. The test for abandonment is whether an individual has retained any reasonable expectation of privacy in the object. United States v. Garzon, ___ F.3d ___ (10th Cir. 1997). See also United States v. Hernandez, 7 F.3d 944 (10th Cir. 1993).
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