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

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

RI: Protective sweep led to plain view that led to consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

"Jessica Imran breathed her last on the floor of her Pawtucket home after suffering a gunshot wound to her head and neck in the early hours of July 27, 2006, after two men, one of whom was armed, forced their way into her apartment." You know where this is going. The third party's consent was valid. A security sweep led to observations that led the officers to ask for third party consent, which was valid because she only "wanted everything to end," which does not make it involuntary. State v. Shelton, 2010 R.I. LEXIS 35 (March 23, 2010)*: After careful and independent review of the record, mindful that we must view the trial justice's findings of fact through a prism of deference, it is our opinion that Ms. Alvarez voluntarily consented to a search of her apartment, and the police's subsequent search and seizure of evidence from her bedroom easily passes constitutional muster...continue to full post

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