Latest Case: Idaho v. Rebo (Constitutional Law)

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Idaho v. Rebo

Docket: 46451

Opinion Date: December 16, 2020

Judge: Bevan

Areas of Law: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

Jesse Rebo shared a home with his wife in Coeur d’Alene for ten years. Due to a domestic assault conviction, Rebo had been ordered by a judge to not go within 300 feet of his wife or the family residence. Even so, about a week after the court issued the order, Rebo was seen near his wife, outside the home, by a police officer. The officer announced herself and Rebo retreated inside. The officer entered the home and arrested Rebo. Methamphetamine was ultimately found on Rebo’s person when he was booked at the jail. Rebo brought a motion to suppress that evidence, which the district court denied. The court ruled that Rebo lacked standing to challenge the officer’s warrantless entry into his residence because society would not recognize Rebo’s subjective expectation of privacy in the residence from which a valid no contact order prohibited Rebo from entering. Rebo appealed, arguing that his ownership interest in the home allowed him to exclude others, including the officer from the home. Rebo also argued no exigent circumstances existed to justify the officer’s warrantless entry, and the evidence discovered after the officer’s unlawful entry should have been suppressed as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” Finding no reversible error, the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed the district court.