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HI: Consent to search for firearms and ammunition did not permit search of wallet

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant consented to search of his car for firearms and ammunition, which was stated in the consent form. Searching a wallet exceeded the scope of the consent. State v. Thornton, 2009 Haw. App. LEXIS 857 (December 1, 2009): Hence, "[c]onsent to search a general area will not validate the search of a specific area or item if that specific area or item is in fact surrounded by an independent privacy interest." Mahone, 67 Haw. at 648, 701 P.2d at 174. Moreover, "[s]peculation or curiosity cannot provide the sole basis to legitimize warrantless searches or seizures." State v. Reed, 70 Haw. 107, 114, 762 P.2d 803, 807 (1988); State v. Kaluna, 55 Haw. 361, 371, 520 P.2d 51, 59 (1974) (suppressing evidence of narcotics wrapped in a tissue and found during a pre-incarceration search because (1) "[f]rom an objective standpoint, it was unlikely that the small packet secreted a weapon which the defendant could have used to escape or harm her captors[,]" and "even if it had contained a small weapon, such as a razor blade, once the packet was in [the police matron's] possession there was no further danger that the defendant could use it"; and (2) the defendant was originally arrested for attempted robbery and the police matron "had neither a belief that [the tissue] contained instrumentalities [of the crime of attempted robbery] nor any grounds to suspect that it contained drugs...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 16, 2010 (boomark / email).