News Article
I always thought that garbage had no rights.
Well, now I know its true.
The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled Thursday that police can sift through garbage if it has been set out at the edge of your property for municipal collection because "abandoned" goods do not trigger Charter of Rights and Freedoms protection.
The decision rejected Calgarian Russell Patrick's quest to overturn his drug conviction on grounds that police violated his right against unreasonable search and seizure when they snatched four bags of rubbish, compiling enough evidence to obtain a search warrant for his home, and then charged him with trafficking ecstasy.
The trash, which contained such things as drug recipes and receipts from manufacturing supplies, was contained in an open receptacle at the back of his property adjacent to an alley.
I always thought that garbage had no rights.
Well, now I know its true.