Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

N.D.Tex.: Defendant's apparent abandonment of rental property did not require eviction for landlord to consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In a § 2255 case, the court concludes that defendant had abandoned his rented office by not having paid rent for 16 days, returning no calls to the landlord about his intentions, the landlord changed the locks after 10 days. The fact the landlord had taken no steps to legally evict him wasn’t even relevant because the landlord didn’t have to. The officer’s reliance on the landlord’s consent was clearly in good faith. Therefore, defense counsel was not ineffective. Mugweni v. United States, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13671 (N.D. Tex. February 10, 2011). Defendant’s stop would have been invalid because, while his license plate was dirty, it was not unreadable. However, defendant fled and that made the stop valid...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 15, 2011 (boomark / email).