Drug Crimes, Substance Abuse Illegal search

[CindyG]

Jurisdiction

Ohio

Officer wanted to search home and bedroom I told him no. I went in my bedroom to get my car keys when I turned around I bumped into him. He had followed me into my bedroom and was searching my shelves with my back turned. Is this legal?

 

[Tax Counsel]

Officer wanted to search home and bedroom I told him no. I went in my bedroom to get my car keys when I turned around I bumped into him. He had followed me into my bedroom and was searching my shelves with my back turned. Is this legal?

There is no way to answer that without knowing all the facts. For example, did the officer have a warrant for a search? Why was the officer there to begin with? Did you give the officer consent to enter the home? Was there anything illegal in plain view? And did the officer find anything illegal in the search and arrest you or give you a citation for it? Questions about the legality of searches are generally very fact specific and include what the officer knew or perceived the circumstances to be at the time. Because of that, the best answer will come from a lawyer to whom you provide ALL the facts. It's not a question that is very good for answering on a internet message board because we don't have all those facts.

About the only thing I can tell is that if the officer did not have some other circumstance that gave him the right to search the room then he would need your consent. As you specifically denied consent to search the bedroom, the search would be illegal if consent was what the cop was relying upon to justify the search. Note that it is pretty common for cops to ask for consent even when they have other grounds for a search since consent would provide an extra layer of protection for the cop in conducting the search.

 

[zddoodah]

Officer wanted to search home and bedroom I told him no. I went in my bedroom to get my car keys when I turned around I bumped into him. He had followed me into my bedroom and was searching my shelves with my back turned. Is this legal?

The only fact you've provided is that you didn't consent to the search, so your question implies that you think there's a possibility that any non-consensual search is illegal. Obviously, that's absurd. Whether the officer's search in this instance was legal depends on the relevant facts known to the officer and on whether or not the officer had a warrant.

If you want to provide additional facts, you should also tell us whether this search resulted in the seizure of any property and/or an arrest and/or the filing of criminal charges against you or anyone else who lives in the home.