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

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

W.D. Ky.: Consent form for "other material and records" included a camera and computer

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Consent form stated that "the scope of consent included 'other material or records pertaining to narcotics.'" That included a digital camera and a computer. United States v. Lucas, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90857 (W.D. Ky. November 6, 2008): Based on the totality of the circumstances, an objectively reasonable officer would have considered Lucas's consent to search "other material and records pertaining to narcotics" to include the laptop computer and the digital camera. The officers had suffient reason to believe that information regarding marijuana cultivation would be found on both the digital camera and the computer. Even though the consent form did not specifically mention computers or digital cameras, many federal courts have found that the search of a computer is appropriate in similar circumstances...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 12, 2008 (boomark / email).