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W.D.Mich.: No apparent authority in a person without a key to the property who was locked out

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The officers encouraged the search by a private person, and that made the search a government search. “[C]ommon authority does not depend on ‘property rights,’ but derives from the ‘mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched.’ United States v. Waller, 426 F.3d 838, 845 (6th Cir. 2005) (quoting United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171 (1974)).” The government failed in its burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that the person who consented had actual authority...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 18, 2010 (boomark / email).