A friend of mine is in a law suit. Someone of authority showed up at her property one morning which happened to be the same morning her mother died. She asked the person of authority to come back some other time as her mother had just died. That person said no and before we knew it, many other persons of authority showed up. None asking if they could search. WELL TODAY A JUDGE DECIDED THAT HER STATEMENT TO "COME BACK SOME OTHER DAY" WAS THE SAME AS CONSENTING TO THE SEARCH. I just can't believe that this is possible. Can I invite you over tomorrow night, you decide to come over tonight, I'm not home so you break in.... Does this mean I gave consent. NO! WELL THE JUDGE MY FRIEND HAD TODAY JUST MIGHT CONSIDER THIS CONSENT. Is this legal. Is this how our legal system really works. It seems impossible to me. So know that If someone comes to your house unwanted, no matter what the reason you better make sure you state in a very accurate way that, "you do not want them there, and there must leave unless they have a search warrant".
If someone is going to search your premesis you gota watch what you say. They will either read the search warrent to you or they will give it to you. Did she recieve a warrent?
This does not appear to be a case about a warrant at all. If they are talking about her consent there most likely was not a warrant. A warrant would negate the need for consent. So, the issue seems to be did your friend consent in any way to a search. That is a question of fact, not law. Without knowing what she was asked and what she responded, nobody can know. If you have a court and case number, we could look at the file ourselves. Without that, it seems to be a factual dispute over whether someone consented or not. If the police come to my house today and ask to search, without a warrant, and I say, "My mom just died, can you come back tomorrow." That can be easily interpreted two ways. First, that I am telling them it is okay to come back and search tomorrow. Second, that I am telling them to come back and ask me tomorrow. That appears to be the crux of the issue.
Your (formerly) good advice might be outdated now. ````````` 1) Is the OP in America? 2) If 'yes', then you are possibly f^cked ``````` This video needs better sound, but it has over 200,000 views for a good reason. Check it out. Edit: He talks about freedom of speech, but it is also about search warrants. ````````
The person of authority did not get out of the vehicle. My friend wallked over to the vehicle and simply said "I don't know why you are her, but can you please come back some other time because my mom just died. The responding answer was no. That was the end of the conversation, I know because I witnessed this. They did no have a search warrant. They did not leave to obtain a search warrant until after 1:00 pm. and did not return with the search warrant until after 5:00 pm. The other problem were are having is that they are lying about the whole day. I know because I witnessed this. Yet the judge ruled her statement was consent! IT'S THE CRAZIEST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD. MAKE SURE YOU ARE CLEAR ABOUT TELLING THEM TO GET OFF YOUR PROPERTY. To me this is like, if I say lets have sex tomorrow, you want it today so you rape me. Have I given you consent by saying lets do it tomorrow?
Your post contradicts your first post. You seemed to imply that they searched without a search warrant and in this post you said they did not get the search warrant until after 5 PM. When did they search the house? Before or after they got the warrant? I am sure there is much more to the case. What were they searching for? As someone else said, it is hard to say anything without a court record to view all details. Seems smarter for your friend to seek a lawyers advice than to come to a webmaster forum to seek legal advice. JMO
They searched, then went and obtained a search warrant based on what they say they found! Mostly false. I say mostly false because they left out information that proves they were lying. They stayed at her residence all day. Their reason for stopping by was an anomyous call. We found this out later. She has an attorney, only he isn't very good. I am just wondering if this is a normal reason to allow the search to be legal. Because she said "come back some other time" when they first arrived?
There is no litmus test for what constitutes voluntary consent. Police do not even have to inform you that they are police in order to perform a consent search. The police in this case may or may not have lied, but witness testimony of known affiliates of the suspected "criminal" is not going to be enough to convince a judge that the police are lying. It is possible that an appeals court will take a different stance, but it is equally possible that they will uphold it. It also depends on the state you live in. Each state has it's own interpretation of the Federal guidelines on the subject. For example, about a decade ago a West Virginia judge ruled that police could not search a stopped car without probable cause or consent. He also ruled that failure to consent to a search of your car constituted probable cause. I'm sure that decision must have been overturned by now, but it just goes to show you never know how a judge may rule.
Since that is contrary to established case law, if true, it should have been easily overturned on appeal.
I would agree. It happened while I was in University at West Virginia and I haven't heard anything about it since. Being from California, I thought it was outrageous. But they still do things a little differently in that state. They usually elect liberals to the federal govenrment, but they are very conservative locally.
That's why you need to keep all doors locked at all times. So yeah, supposely you gave consent but the police had to break the door to get in.
All I know about West Virginia is that it is home to the legendary Jerry West. I am sure there are crazy judges everywhere who ignore our most basic rights. I used to work for a company that sold a fun little product - a wallet card giving guidance on how to exert your 4th & 5th Amendment rights in a police encounter - at home or in your car.