Judge rules Billy Ray Perry lacks standing to challenge garage search

In the standing phase of the suppression hearing, the court considered whether co-defendant Billy Ray Perry had a sufficient privacy interest to contest the search of the garage/shop on the 358 Old Highway 70 property. Captain Troy Martin testified the investigation and paperwork linked Perry to the trailer at the front of the property while DuBois resided in the garage/shop behind it. Applying precedent (including State v. White and subsequent appellate decisions), the judge found the evidence did not establish that Perry had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the garage and therefore Perry lacked standing to contest the search. The court dismissed the standing portion of Perry’s challenge and proceeded to consider DuBois’s separate challenge.

Nut graf: The judge distinguished the two defendants’ factual connections to separate structures on the same property and concluded that only the defendant who maintained the garage as his residence had standing to challenge evidence seized there.

What follows: Perry’s lack of standing means the evidence taken from the garage can be used against co-defendants who did have a privacy interest in the structure. The judge set the next procedural steps and moved forward with the hearing on DuBois’s challenge.