Thomas

After the trial court denied Major Lee Thomas’s motion to suppress evidence obtained in a warrantless search of his “residence”—a cardboard box located on a public sidewalk—Thomas pled no contest to one count of receiving stolen property. He now appeals, contending he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his box and that his motion should have been granted. We affirm.

Facts

Early one morning, Los Angeles Police Department Officers Dennis Moeller and Russell Long responded to a burglary call at Lucy’s Fashions, a manufacturer of denim clothing, where a witness reported that a man had thrown boxes and bags of clothing from a second floor window to two other men on the street below the window who then ran off with the boxes and bags. A search of the premises revealed a forced entry, with boxes and clear plastic bags of denim clothing stacked near a window.

Earlier that morning, Officers Moeller and Long had observed a group of men at a nearby comer (Fourth and Towne Streets) examining some denim clothing. With the obvious connection between that observation and the burglary at Lucy’s, the officers returned to the comer of Fourth and Towne where they found several…