New Case on Consent Searches When Tenants’ Wishes Conflict, and When a Suspect is “Present” to Object

Georgia v. Randolph and the “present at the scene” requirement for a co-tenant’s objection to a warrantless search to be valid. 

• Consent searches of a residence 
• Use of a laser pointer on aircraft, per 18 U.S.C. § 39A 
• An objecting co-tenant’s physical presence requirement 
• Non-custodial questioning vs. an interrogation 
• Suppression of the products of an illegal search 

When two co-tenants are present at a residence, one of whom consents and the other objects to police officers entering and searching their residence, the objecting co-tenant’s objection takes precedence.  

To be “present,” the objecting co-tenant must be at least within the “immediate vicinity” of the residence. Being within visual (“line-of-sight”) and auditory reach of the residence counts as being within the immediate vicinity. A suspect’s oral admissions will not be suppressed as the product of an illegal search if the suspect was unaware of any evidence that was seized during that search. 

Brett Wayne Parkins (aka: the “laser pointer guy,” to his neighbors), living in a Huntington Beach apartment complex, liked to amuse himself by pointing ....