This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

Police suspected Greenwood (D) of drug trafficking. They asked the neighborhood's regular trash collector for the plastic bags that D had left on the curb in front of his house. They searched the trash and obtained enough evidence to obtain a search warrant for D's home. During the search, they found cocaine and hashish. D was arrested on felony narcotics charges. The Superior Court dismissed the charges on the authority of People v. Krivda, which held that warrantless trash searches violate the 4th Amendment and the California Constitution. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The state (P) appealed.

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