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FL1: Consent must be acted on by the police timely or it evaporates

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

When defendant gives consent, the police must timely act on it. If they don't, it evaporates. Johnson v. State, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 16536 (1st Dist. October 24, 2008): [T]he illegal detention of Appellant, after he had given consent but before the police exercised the privilege extended by the consent, created a taint which could be overcome only by a sufficient break in the chain of illegality. The burden to establish this break rests with law enforcement. There is no evidence that such a break occurred. Therefore, the search must be found nonconsensual, and the evidence improperly seized. The trial court erred in denying Appellant's motion to suppress. Grow operation allegations were not stale because of the allegations of an ongoing operation...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 01, 2008 (boomark / email).