United States v. Dunn
United States Supreme Court
480 U.S. 294 (1987)
DEA agents tracked drug-making equipment ordered by Robert Carpenter to Ronald Dunn's (defendant) ranch, which had perimeter and interior fences and a large barn about fifty yards from the house's fence line, itself surrounded by its own fencing and netting. Without a warrant, agents crossed several fences and looked into the barn, where they believed they smelled a chemical used in making amphetamine and saw a lab; they returned the next day, confirmed what they had seen, and obtained a warrant to search the ranch, seizing drugs and paraphernalia and arresting Dunn and Carpenter. Dunn was convicted, and the Supreme Court took up whether the barn was protected curtilage.
Whether the area surrounding a barn or outbuilding located 50 yards from the fence surrounding a home is part of the home's curtilage and thus protected by the Fourth Amendment.