NAJAM, Judge.
Darrol Fox brings this interlocutory appeal from the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence. Fox raises two issues for our review, which we restate as the following issue: whether he has standing under either the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution to challenge the State's warrantless entry into a hotel room in which Fox was an unregistered guest. We affirm.
At about 11:00 p.m. on November 5, 2011, Detective John Howard and other officers of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department went to the America's Best Inn on North High School Road to check the hotel's registry against a list of wanted suspects. The clerk at the hotel's
Detective Howard received a key for room 220 from the desk clerk, and he and the other officers entered the room. Upon entering, the officers saw that the room had been occupied but was currently vacant. The officers were then approached by James Giles, a maintenance worker for the hotel. Giles informed the officers that "in [r]oom 212 there was a person sleeping on the bed and that they were [sic] not registered in the room and not supposed to be there." Transcript at 19. Giles suggested that the person in room 212 "could be the person [the officers] were looking for, and that that person was not supposed to be ... in that room." Id. at 20. Detective Howard confirmed that the guest registry did not show anyone registered in room 212.
Giles then told the officers that he could let them into room 212 with his key, and the officers followed Giles to room 212. At the threshold to the room, Detective Howard observed that "the door jamb was broken as if it was kicked in or had been kicked in previously." Id. at 21.
The officers woke the man and asked him who he was. The man refused to talk to the officers, and they handcuffed him and "look[ed] around the room to see if anybody else was in the room ... [and] to locate any identification that we could find to help us figure out who this person was." Id. at 24. The officers observed items near the dresser, and the man stated, "None of this is mine, none of this is mine." Id. at 23. The officers then found photo identification identifying the man as Fox. In a drawer of the nightstand directly beside the bed, the officers found a set of digital scales that had a white powder on them.
During the course of the officers' search of the room, Fox told the officers that the manager had let him into the room. Detective Howard went to the front desk to ask the manager if that was true, and the manager confirmed that he had let Fox into the room and "didn't tell any of his staff that he had let him in." Id. at 27. The manager offered no further specifics on his permission for Fox to be in room 212, although Fox later acknowledged that he had not paid for a room, that he had told the manager he only needed the room "for the day," that he had been in the room since 8:00 a.m., and that the manager was doing him a "favor." Id. at 7-10.
On November 14, the State charged Fox with dealing in cocaine, as a Class A felony; possession of cocaine, as a Class B felony; possession of a narcotic, as a Class B felony; possession of a controlled substance, as a Class B felony; maintaining a common nuisance, as a Class D felony; and possession of marijuana, as a Class A misdemeanor. On April 3, 2012, Fox filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized from room 212. The court held an evidentiary hearing on Fox's motion and, thereafter, it denied his motion to suppress the evidence. The court then certified its order for interlocutory appeal, which we accepted.
Fox appeals the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress. Where a party appeals
We agree with the State's contention that the evidence most favorable to the trial court's ruling demonstrates that Fox lacks standing to challenge the State's search of the hotel room under either the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution or Article I, Section 11 of the Indiana Constitution.
As the United States Supreme Court has held, "an overnight guest in a home may claim the protection of the Fourth Amendment, but one who is merely present with the consent of the householder may not." Minnesota v. Carter, 525 U.S. 83, 90, 119 S.Ct. 469, 142 L.Ed.2d 373 (1998). Further, a person's hotel room is a "home" for Fourth Amendment purposes. Ceroni v. State, 559 N.E.2d 372, 373 (Ind. Ct.App.1990), trans. denied.
Here, the undisputed evidence shows that Fox was an invitee of the hotel manager at the time of the officers' warrantless entry into room 212. Although Fox construes the manager's invitation as equivalent to being a registered, overnight guest, his own testimony belies his claim on appeal. At the motion to suppress hearing, Fox acknowledged that he had not paid for a room, that he had told the manager he only needed the room "for the
Fox has not met his burden of demonstrating that the trial court's interpretation of those facts is contrary to law. See Arcuri, 775 N.E.2d at 1100. To the contrary, Fox's own testimony, when viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court's judgment, shows that Fox was merely present in the hotel room with the consent of the hotel manager and that Fox was not an overnight guest in room 212. Accordingly, he does not have standing under the Fourth Amendment to challenge the officers' warrantless entry into the room. Likewise, he does not have standing under Article I, Section 11. Thus, we affirm the trial court's denial of Fox's motion to suppress.
Affirmed.
FRIEDLANDER, J., and BRADFORD, J., concur.