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KS: Apparent authority lacking for search of joint occupant's separate property she'd never been in

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The consenter here did not have apparent authority to consent to a search of a school bus parked on joint property where she did not know what was in the bus, never been in it, and there was a chained guard dog guarding it. Suppression affirmed. State v. Kerestessy, 2010 Kan. App. LEXIS 70 (June 25, 2010): The State's argument is flawed. The test is not whether the officers thought Konen had the apparent authority to consent. Rather, the test is whether a person of reasonable caution, having the same facts that the officers had, would believe Konen had mutual use of the school bus or any legal interest in the school bus, which would have given rise to apparent authority to consent to a search of the bus. In other words, would the officer have had a valid consent to search if the facts were as he or she reasonably believed them to be? See Porting, 281 Kan...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on June 28, 2010 (boomark / email).