Unlawful Police Home Entry: Violating Fourth Amendment Rights of House Guests | Girlfriend Apartment

In Steagald v. United States, 451 U.S. 204 (1981), the Supreme Court held that, in the absence of valid consent or exigent circumstances, warrantless searches are per se unreasonable and violate the Fourth Amendment. Id. at 211, 101 S.Ct. 1642. Here, the only warrant the police possessed at the time they entered Cruz’s home was an old warrant for Medina’s arrest for driving a car with a suspended license. In Steagald, the Supreme Court stated that an arrest warrant for a non-resident was insufficient to authorize a search of a third party’s home.Id. at 216, 101 S.Ct. 1642. Operating under the premise that the police did not have valid consent or exigent circumstances to search Cruz’s home, Medina contends that the search by the HPD violated the principle stated in Steagald.

What about girlfriend’s consent in this case?

Consent is not voluntary if it is merely the acquiescence to a claim of lawful authority. Bumper, 391 U.S. at 548-49. Moreover, “[w]here there is coercion, there cannot be consent.”Id. at 550. Consent must be voluntary and courts look to several factors in order to determine whether consent was given voluntarily or through coercion. United States v. Barnett, 989 F.2d 546, 554-55 (1st Cir. 1993). Those factors include age, education, experience, intelligence, knowledge of the right to withhold consent and evidence of coercive means or inherently coercive circumstances. United States v. Corain, 198 F.3d 306, 309 (1st Cir. 1999). No one factor is determinative because the Court must examine the totality of the circumstances surrounding the purported consent. Barnett, 989 F.2d at 554-55.

Read full case here: U.S. v. Medina, 451 F. Supp. 2d 262 (D. Mass. 2006), https://casetext.com/case/us-v-medina-10