State of New Jersey, Plaintiff-Appellant v. Derrick Brown, Leroy Carstarphen, and Kareem Strong, Defendants-Respondents

Summary

The Supreme Court of New Jersey affirmed the trial court’s suppression of evidence seized from 820 Line Street, holding that the State failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the house was abandoned or that the defendants were trespassers, and therefore the warrantless search was unconstitutional. The Court also affirmed that the defendants had standing to challenge the search under both the Fourth Amendment and the New Jersey Constitution. Justice Patterson dissented, arguing that the officers’ observations justified a finding of abandonment and that the search should be upheld.