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The Fourth Amendment and Consent to Search a Vehicle

By Walin & Klarich

Whether Consent Given by Driver to Search Vehicle Was Given Voluntarily Requires Analysis by an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Who Understands the Fourth Amendment Voluntariness of consent to search must be analyzed under the Fourth Amendment and Article 1, section 5 of The United States Constitution "by examining the totality of the circumstances." Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. at 39; State v. Sherburne, 571 A.2d 1181, 1185 (Me. 1990). Consent to search may be found if the detainment of a suspect by an officer has ended and the continued presence of the suspect becomes voluntary and consensual. For instance, a traffic stop which has risen to the level of a detention may be converted into a consensual encounter. The first step courts look to is whether the officer returned all documents to the driver...continue to full post

Full post as published by Southern California Criminal Defense Blog on July 26, 2009 (boomark / email).