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MA: Consent to search dorm room was not voluntary

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The state did not voluntary prove consent to search defendant’s college dormitory room where officers came to the door and said that they wanted to search the room and filled out a consent to search form. Commonwealth v. Carr, 2010 Mass. LEXIS 871 (November 17, 2010), aff'g Commonwealth v. Carr, 76 Mass. App. Ct. 41, 918 N.E.2d 847 (2009). Defendant was stopped because he was acting suspiciously in an area known for burglaries. He was arrested on an outstanding warrant. When in booking, burglary tools and gloves with embedded glass were taken from him. Officers also photographed the sole of his boots, the imprint of which was used to connect him to a burglary. The seizure of the boots to photograph them was not done under any kind of jail inventory policy, and the motion to suppress the photographs should have been granted under the Oregon Constitution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on November 24, 2010 (boomark / email).