Terry Rainwaters is a mechanical technician and farmer who owns about 135 acres of land along the Big Sandy River outside Camden, Tennessee.
Terry’s property is his home and his sanctuary. He lives there with his family. And it’s where he spends time bonding with his son, including hunting with their state-issued hunting licenses. The property also helps provide for Terry’s family: Terry farms the land and rents out a separate house he owns on the property to a long-time tenant.
Although Terry has no record of hunting violations, TWRA officers barged onto his land in December 2017—without a warrant or probable cause. They installed two surveillance cameras in Terry’s trees, even cutting the branches of one tree to get a clear view of Terry’s property. The cameras could capture images of people and cars, of Terry and his son farming and hunting, and even of the back of their tenant’s home.
To protect the property and privacy rights of all Tennesseans, Terry is fighting back against TWRA’s warrantless intrusions and the agency’s treatment of a hunting license as an open invitation to snoop around private property.
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4th Amendment Project | Open Fields Doctrine | Other Property Rights Abuses | Private Property
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