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FL4: Refusal to provide key to locked console is denial of consent; getting key was unreasonable search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant's refusal to provide key to locked console in car during consent search of the car was a denial of consent as to the console. J.J.V. v. State, 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 13750 (Fla. App. 4 DCA September 16, 2009): In this case, the locked console in the defendant's car was as much a manifestation of an expectation of privacy in the contents as the locked briefcase in Wells. In both cases, if law enforcement officers wanted access, they had to ask for the key or lock combination or use significant force to open the container. See Mendoza-Gonzalez, 318 F.3d at 671. When the deputy in this case asked for the key, appellant told him that it was not available -- that only his mother had a key. In spite of that, the deputy located the key himself and used it to gain access to the console...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on September 20, 2009 (boomark / email).