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CA5: Silence when your son is consenting for you is implicit consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Silence during defendant’s son’s disclosure of where guns were when he was asked implicit consent, and it was voluntary. United States v. Martinez, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 278 (5th Cir. January 6, 2011) (unpublished): Consent to a search can be implied from silence or failure to object if it follows a police officer’s explicit or implicit request for consent. See United States v. Jaras, 86 F.3d 383, 390 (5th Cir. 1996). Here, an officer implicitly requested consent to search the safe. When an officer asks an individual where a gun is located, while at the same time repeatedly stating that his goal is to seize the weapon as evidence, that is logically considered an implicit request for consent to search for and recover the weapon...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 09, 2011 (boomark / email).