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Cal.4th: By letting a probationer ride in the car, the owner did not become subject to a probation search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

By permitting a parolee/probationer to ride in his car, the defendant did not reduce his expectation of privacy such that his car could be searched under the parole-probation search exception. To reduce a citizen's expectation of privacy for associating with parolee or probationers would ultimately be harmful to society. People v. Schmitz, 2010 Cal. App. LEXIS 1445 (4th Dist. August 18, 2010): In this case, there was no evidence that Schmitz, merely by allowing a parolee to ride as a passenger in his car, ceded to that parolee any authority over the car at all, let alone the authority to permit inspections of the vehicle's interior “in his own right.” Indeed, there was no evidence Schmitz knew his passenger was a parolee. Had Schmitz left the vehicle in the parolee's possession, or allowed him to drive it, that would be different...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on August 21, 2010 (boomark / email).