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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    San Francisco, CA
    Posts
    2

    Question Overnight Guest's Probation as a Basis for a Search and Seizure

    My question involves search and seizure procedures in San Francisco, Calif.
    Please see my original thread under: "Can the Police Use Overnight Guest's Probation as a Basis for a Search and seizure" for background on this follow up question...
    This question involves what are the actual limitations of a probationary search and seizure on a non-residence of the probationary subject? How far outside the scope of the probationary subject's physical being are police allowed to go? See the last question of my first thread for more detail on this and your answer...
    And to answer your inquiry about whether the release to search I signed was "voluntary", and after reviewing what actually took place and what was said to me I can safely say that there was coercion involved in getting me to sign. (And remember this: a bunch of cops on the SFPD are having cases going back possibly 10 years and already 75 cases or more have been reversed and wont be tried again...for doing what was done at my residence, coercion and all)
    I was coerced into signing the Release Form allowing the cops to search everything..office Doc.
    Here's how: When the female plain clothes cop came up on me she asked this: So how long has "Subject 1" been living with you?" - I said "He doesn't live with me, he's occasional overnight guest...and I pointed to where his room was. She then said "well, we are going to search your place anyway, so it would be in your best interest to sign a release form so it would look favorable for you with the DA. and I willl also tell them that you cooperated in our investigation" I signed where she pointed to without reading it...DUMB i knoiw, but the facts remain that Subject #1 was stopped and detained down the block and was searched there with his car. Nothing was found except some money. But the constitutionality's of procedure are in question. He never came in that night. After searching him, and me and my place they took us in. The police called Alameda County to verify a probation was in effect on subject #1. This all took place in S.F., and they used Alameda's probation on him as the excuse for not getting a warrant.He doesn't get mail there of any kind and doesn't pay me any rent of any kind so what are the actual limitations of a probationary search and seizure on a non-residence of the probationary subject? Shouldn't the probationary search have stopped right there outside where they stopped and detained him? They did in fact go to his other residence and search there after the fact that night. And what they found there is now counting in charges against me, and I have never been inside his other residence!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Behind a Desk
    Posts
    98,846

    Default Re: Overnight Guest's Probation as a Basis for a Search and Seizure

    So you believe that the police officer's asking you to sign a release form, while suggesting that it would look better with the D.A. if you cooperated instead of making them get a warrant should they ultimately find contraband, is "coercion"? If so, it was rather slight.

    If you wanted to withdraw your consent to the search when the police detained your friend, you should have told them that you were withdrawing your consent.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    California
    Posts
    20,594

    Default Re: Overnight Guest's Probation as a Basis for a Search and Seizure

    He is an occasional "guest" and you have provided him with his own room? You are quite generous to your guests. His room and any common areas can be subject to a probation search. The way to avoid this hassle in the future is either not to let him come and stay over, or, keep any contraband out of the house or locked up in your bedroom.

    You say you were charged with stuff found in his "other" residence? I think that's a stretch unless he or someone else tied you to the contraband found in his other residence. Consult legal counsel on how best to proceed. And, I would suggest that you not let this guy back into your home.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    California
    Posts
    540

    Default Re: Overnight Guest's Probation as a Basis for a Search and Seizure

    Quote Quoting cdwjava
    His room and any common areas can be subject to a probation search.
    I don't believe it. "His" room in that house was not his residence. What a parolee agrees to as a condition of probation surely does not authorize the police to violate the sanctity of another person's home when the police do not have even probable cause to believe the parolee is there or living there.

    Look at it another way... If the police had an arrest warrent for the parolee, they would still need probable cause that the parolee was inside the house before they would be authorized to enter. (I remember this scenario from a court case. I do not recall a court case specifically addressing the previous scenario.)

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