State v. Statham

Defendant seeks reversal of his conviction for the crime of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, marijuana, seized from a duffel bag taken from the back seat of a vehicle which he was driving. The trial court found that, although defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the passenger compartment of the vehicle, he had failed to establish any privacy interest in the duffel bag itself and denied defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence. We reverse.

Defendant attracted the attention of the police following a report of a suspicious person around a grocery store in the…