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Driver of hit and run vehicle he borrowed lacked standing to contest police exceeding owner's consent to search

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant had no standing to question whether officers investigating a hit and run by defendant's brother's vehicle exceeded the scope of consent when they took parts off the truck. It was not his truck, although his brother consented, and the question at trial was whether defendant was driving at that time of the hit and run. State v. Moore, 2008 S.C. App. LEXIS 49 (March 13, 2008).* Defendant's detention was justified by a warrant and thus could not have tainted abandonment of a knapsack. Because none of the bar patrons claimed ownership of the knapsack, the police reasonably could have assumed it belonged to the bartender, who was being investigated. Thus, once defendant denied ownership of the knapsack, he effectively abandoned it, giving the officers the right to search it without a warrant...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 22, 2008 (boomark / email).