Can a police officer enter the driveway of a house where the driveway is open to the public?

In this case, defendant's driveway was exposed to the public. It abutted to the public sidewalk and was the path up to the home. There was no fence around the driveway, there were no walls, and there were no signs. The difference, according to the investigator, between being able to hear sounds of air conditioning and not, was simply one step off the public sidewalk. Defendant also knowingly exposed the occurrences within the garage to the public by virtue of the windows in the garage door. From these facts, it cannot be said that defendant had any subjective expectation of privacy in the sights, sounds, and smells observable from his driveway. (California v. Ciraolo (1986) 476 U.S. 207, 215 ["it is unreasonable for respondent to expect that his marijuana plants were constitutionally protected from being observed with the naked eye from an altitude of 1,000 feet"].)

Moreover, even if defendant did have a subjective expectation of privacy, it is not one which society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. Defendant's driveway, like many other suburban driveways, was easily visible and accessible to the public. Any guest - invited or not - would have smelled marijuana or heard the air conditioning fans. A police officer cannot be said to have been "standing upon trespassed property" where any other member of the public would have been impliedly invited or allowed to enter. (Lorenzana v. Superior Court (1973) 9 Cal.3d 626, 641.)