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AZ: Prior dog sniff of garage without knowledge to homeowner did not taint later consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

“The question presented is whether a resident's consent to search her home is invalid because it was preceded by an allegedly illegal search of which the resident was unaware. We hold that the consent to search is valid under the circumstances.” State v. Guillen, 2010 Ariz. LEXIS 6 (January 15, 2010): ¶15 Assuming, without deciding, that the dog sniff violated Article 2, Section 8, we conclude that Mrs. Guillen's consent was valid because under Brown's three-factor test, intervening circumstances obviated any alleged taint and the first dog sniff conducted from outside the garage was not flagrant police misconduct. . . . ¶17 Mrs. Guillen's lack of knowledge of the dog sniff constitutes a major break in the causal chain...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).