State of Alaska v. John William Mckelvey III

Summary

The Alaska Supreme Court held that law enforcement must obtain a warrant before using an aircraft and high-powered optics to observe the curtilage of a home that is protected from ground-level observation. The court concluded that the Alaska Constitution's privacy protection does not permit mechanically extending the open-view doctrine to targeted aerial surveillance, even when the aircraft and camera are publicly available. Because the warrantless photographs supplied information used to obtain the search warrant, the superior court erred in denying suppression, and the court affirmed the Court of Appeals.