Legal Topics

Criminal law — Search and seizure — Vehicle — Consent

Nov 02nd, 2021 in by admin

Criminal law — Search and seizure — Vehicle — Consent — Court cannot conclude that defendant voluntarily consented to search of his vehicle, which was parked next door to a residence that was site of arrest of another person, where consent was preceded by prior unlawful police action and there was no clear and convincing proof of an unequivocal break in the chain of illegality sufficient to dissipate the taint of that prior illegal action — Defendant, who opened the door of arrestee’s residence when police arrived to execute search warrant, was unlawfully detained in handcuffs outside arrestee’s home while police took arrestee into custody, conducted an unlawful protective sweep of arrestee’s home, applied for and obtained search warrant for residence, and executed the search warrant — Protective search of arrestee’s home, during which narcotics were found in plain view, was unlawful in absence of specific and articulable facts supporting a reasonable belief that there were persons in home who might pose some danger to officers — Mere unspecified noise from back of house was not, standing alone, sufficient to justify protective sweep — Moreover evidence presented by state to support protective sweep was conflicting and unreliable — Motion to suppress evidence discovered in defendant’s vehicle is granted