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NV: DA's comment on defendant's refusal of consent required reversal

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The DA's comment on defendant's refusal of consent required reversal. Defendant had a constitutional right to refuse consent. Ramet v. State, 125 Nev. Adv. Rep. 19, 2009 Nev. LEXIS 20 (June 4, 2009): While there are no Nevada cases on point, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in United States v. Prescott, held that "refusal to consent to a warrantless search is privileged conduct which cannot be considered as evidence of criminal wrongdoing." 581 F.2d at 1351; see also United States v. Taxe, 540 F.2d 961, 969 (9th Cir. 1976). That court reasoned that "[t]he right to refuse [entry] protects both the innocent and the guilty, and to use its exercise against the defendant would be, as the Court said in Griffin, a penalty imposed by courts for exercising a constitutional right...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 27, 2009 (boomark / email).