Commonwealth v. Shaffer, J., Aplt.

CHIEF JUSTICE SAYLOR, Dissenting

On the issue of abandonment, I agree with those courts which have held that a person does not abandon a reasonable expectation of privacy merely by turning a computer over to a repairperson to restore its functionality. See, e.g , United States v. Barth , 26 F. Supp. 2d 929, 936-37 (1998) ; State v. Cardwell , 414 S.C. 416, 778 S.E.2d 483, 488-89 (S.C. Ct. App. 2015), aff'd as modified , 425 S.C. 595, 824 S.E.2d 451 (2019). For my part, in the computer repair scenario, I am reluctant to find wholesale abandonment absent an express admonition to the defendant…