46and2aheadofme
New member
Here's what my crim law prof had to say:
"This is a gray area and depends on whether P manifested an expectation of privacy. Looking for things like locked door to the bedroom, does not grant access to parents, pays rent, separate entrance, etc. If P is more like a tenant than a relation, cops on shaky ground regarding consent. So you're right...if the relationship is like lessor/lessee."
So the answer is, as always in law, "maybe, it depends on how good your lawyer is." LOL
Let's see what your state has to say about it.
PM me and tell me what state you're in, and I'll look for past cases setting precedent. For instance, the following decision is from a Hawaii case in 2001, so it looks like in HA you'd have a good chance of winning:
Defendant was convicted in the Second Circuit Court, Artemio C. Baxa, J., of assault in the second degree, carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, place to keep firearm, prohibited possession of a firearm, and possession of a prohibited firearm, after sawed-off shotgun was found in defendant's locked bedroom at his mother's house. Defendant appealed. The Intermediate Court of Appeals, Lim, J., held that: (1) defendant had reasonable expectation of privacy in bedroom; (2) mother had actual authority to consent to search of common areas of house; (3) mother did not have actual authority to consent to search of defendant's locked bedroom; (4) exigent circumstances did not exist to justify search; (5) erroneous admission of sawed-off shotgun was not harmless error; and (6) evidence was insufficient to support conviction of possession of a prohibited firearm.
Reversed in part, judgment vacated and remanded in part. State v. Vinuya, 32 P.3d 116 (HA 2001).
"This is a gray area and depends on whether P manifested an expectation of privacy. Looking for things like locked door to the bedroom, does not grant access to parents, pays rent, separate entrance, etc. If P is more like a tenant than a relation, cops on shaky ground regarding consent. So you're right...if the relationship is like lessor/lessee."
So the answer is, as always in law, "maybe, it depends on how good your lawyer is." LOL
Let's see what your state has to say about it.
PM me and tell me what state you're in, and I'll look for past cases setting precedent. For instance, the following decision is from a Hawaii case in 2001, so it looks like in HA you'd have a good chance of winning:
Defendant was convicted in the Second Circuit Court, Artemio C. Baxa, J., of assault in the second degree, carrying or use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, place to keep firearm, prohibited possession of a firearm, and possession of a prohibited firearm, after sawed-off shotgun was found in defendant's locked bedroom at his mother's house. Defendant appealed. The Intermediate Court of Appeals, Lim, J., held that: (1) defendant had reasonable expectation of privacy in bedroom; (2) mother had actual authority to consent to search of common areas of house; (3) mother did not have actual authority to consent to search of defendant's locked bedroom; (4) exigent circumstances did not exist to justify search; (5) erroneous admission of sawed-off shotgun was not harmless error; and (6) evidence was insufficient to support conviction of possession of a prohibited firearm.
Reversed in part, judgment vacated and remanded in part. State v. Vinuya, 32 P.3d 116 (HA 2001).
