Alcohol & Drugs: DUI, DWI Alcoholic brother in law's computer

[itzbackwards]

I will try to make this simple. My brother in law, I will call him bob, crashed his car and was arrested for drunk driving. He lives with my mother in law (he is 50 something). She recently gave him a new laptop. While bob was in jail, a number of discoveries were made including the fact that he had alcohol and drugs show up in his tests at the hospital. We searched bob's things at the house to be sure that there was no illegal substances and found a crack pipe and also looked at the browsing history on his laptop to see if he was into illegal porn or whatever. He had lots of saved pictures and web links for porn but could not determine if the subjects were under 18 although many looked about 16. Can we turn this in for evidence along with the crack pipe, (trying to get bob out of his 85 year old mothers house) or have we committed an illegal act by looking in bob's unlocked, non-password protected computer retrieved from the wrecked car which was also given to him (he has the pink slip) by his 85 year old mother. What are our rights?

 

[mightymoose]

There is nothing illegal about your search that you need to worry about. Police won't be interested in what you have found because there is no way to verify that it belongs to Bob.

If you want him out of mom's house then have mom evict him. If he is ever violent toward her or anyone else in the house then get a restraining order against him.

However, you ask "What are OUR rights?"
As you describe the situation, you are not really an involved party. Your best option is to persuade mom to boot him out and stop supporting him if that is what is needed. Get him into rehab and don't allow him back unless he cooperates and completes the programs.