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N.D.Ill.: Caregiver for disabled child found to have apparent authority to consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant’s niece was the caregiver to defendant’s disabled son. When the police got there, they asked questions about her control over the premises, and they concluded from her answers that she was one with actual and apparent authority to consent and full access to all parts of the house. When she testified at the suppression hearing, she backed off some things and seemed like she was trying to mitigate her consent. The court concludes that she was not credible. United States v. Garcia, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121111 (N.D. Ill. November 16, 2010)* [I don't like this outcome. Freedom to go through the house as a caregiver simply cannot equate with apparent authority to let the police in to consent. What about the "cleaning lady"?] There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in a laundry room in an apartment building common area...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 19, 2010 (boomark / email).