Any law buffs here? Quite the close call!!!!

[BigRonWannabee]

Ok so Ill make a long story short. My roommate was accused of rape over the past weekend. His ex is a psychopath, a whore and a liar. Anyways the cops of course follow up and while im NOT THERE... enter my room, lock the door behind them and took pictures of EVERYTHING. Contents of my drawers, fridge, closet, everything. By the grace of god I keep anything and everything not-so-legal out of the area. But holy fucking shit man did these pigs step on my rights?? Someone clue me in!!

 

[Vegas]

Sharing an apartment/home? Does the roommate have access to your room? Also, I assume that a warrant was served? Was it fairly open-ended or more specific?

 

[BigRonWannabee]

He has access to my room though a bathroom. We share a suite in a residence apartment on campus. A warrent was served but i didnt see it. They also took his clothes, sheets and such. They did find a LOT of bulk supps and asked him what they were. He told them I was "into lifting" and they left it at that. I cap a lot of my own stuff and it scared me because I have multiple baggies of unlabeled caps.

 

[Slayer]

Did they have a warrant? If your apartment was the scene of the alleged crime, they had probable cause to conduct a search to look for evidence. But that does not necessarily mean that they could search the entire apartment. There has to be some sort of nexus between the area searched and the crime. And they have to have a reason to believe that they might find evidence in the area to be searched. For instance, if they are looking for a stolen television set, they can't go opening your mail because there is no way a tv would fit in an envelope. But they could look in closets and stuff. But the rules of search and seizure are not clear cut and very fact specific.

If they didn't have a warrant, IMO they crossed the line. They could have secured the apartment before getting a warrant, then searched once they had the warrant in hand.

 

[Vegas]

Yeah, your roommate should have received a copy of the warrant. I would assume that it would be pretty broad in what they could search in terms of rooms and as long as he could theoretically have access to your room it would likely be covered by the search warrant. I would bet that what they did was within the law, but it all depends on what is stated on the actual warrant.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Understood. I just dont see how they would find evidence of a rape in my fridge/closet/drawers/etc. He admitted to having sex with her anyways, she just called it rape.

 

[ManOfMuscle]

That's some scary shit Dougoe, but seeing as how they came an didn't find anything I'd say you dodged a bullet.

 

[GymLift]

I watch Law & Order, so I'm an expert on the law.

This was a damn close call. If they found your shit you would have been fucked.

Tell your buddy how fucking lucky he is they didn't find your shit because if they did, then you would have told LE about how he bragged about the rape with that 'stupid bitch'. It is all about bargaining.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Haha good point. Trust me guys when I say a bullet was dodged...it was fucking matrix style dodged. I wont even incriminate myself further by telling you just how fuckin lucky I really am.

 

[Slayer]

Understood. I just dont see how they would find evidence of a rape in my fridge/closet/drawers/etc. He admitted to having sex with her anyways, she just called it rape.

Yea that sounds like bull shit to me. What they will say they were looking for was soiled clothing and things like that. But if they had found some of your stuff, you would have had a decent shot at suppressing the evidence.

 

[ManOfMuscle]

Did they go through your things or just take pictures of the room as it was?

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Maybe, with the help of a high priced lawyer who knows the DA. The legal system is something I dont want any part of, ever ever. Ive never even gotten a ticket for christ sakes and my freedom and future were jeopordized by a filthy lying whore. Damn im angry right now.

 

[ManOfMuscle]

If you ever get your hands on that bitch you should rape then kill her. Emphasis on the rape part.

 

[BigRonWannabee]

Did they go through your things or just take pictures of the room as it was?

Went though, with detail. Dude they took pics for a hour and a half. My friend who was looking out for my best interest got in the room through the bathroom (4 person suite, 1 bathroom - hes unrelated to the rape thing) and saw the cops . Described em as CSI looking guys with blue latex gloves on. Said they were in the process of shuffling through my drawers at my desk. He told them that was the wrong guys stuff and they said "you can go ahead and leave now".

 

[aProtege]

How do we know your the real dougoefresh? say something only dougoefresh would say... lol

 

[Eze]

They either had a warrant, or he consented to the search of the apartment because he was scared shitless.

They wouldn't have went into your room unless they had "permission" because anything they found would not be admissible in court as evidence. So either the warrant gave them permission to search the whole apartment for evidence, or he consented to the search and isn't tell you.

 

[liftsiron]

They either had a warrant, or he consented to the search of the apartment because he was scared shitless.

They wouldn't have went into your room unless they had "permission" because anything they found would not be admissible in court as evidence. So either the warrant gave them permission to search the whole apartment for evidence, or he consented to the search and isn't tell you.

In the recent supreme court ruling Georgia vs. Ross the Supreme court of the United States upheld the ruling of the Georgia supreme court. Ruling that co-habitants of a dwelling i.e. husband-wife, boyfriend girlfriend, roomates etc. CANNOT give police permission to search the premises without consent of the other person living there. Any evidence found in such a search is unlawful. However if the police had a warrent everything is moot. Although the warrent must have listed speciffacially what evedience was being searched after.

 

[Fender]

I watch Law & Order, so I'm an expert on the law.

This was a damn close call. If they found your shit you would have been fucked.

Tell your buddy how fucking lucky he is they didn't find your shit because if they did, then you would have told LE about how he bragged about the rape with that 'stupid bitch'. It is all about bargaining.

I watch Law and Order as well and if they did find your stuff, any charges would be dropped with a motion to dismiss because your stuff was not in the context of the search warrant.

 

[GymLift]

I watch Law and Order as well and if they did find your stuff, any charges would be dropped with a motion to dismiss because your stuff was not in the context of the search warrant.

I would first guess on a motion to suppress based on the fact that it is not truely one residence, but 4 seperate residences where each resident has an individual expectation of privacy.

 

[Slayer]

They either had a warrant, or he consented to the search of the apartment because he was scared shitless.

They wouldn't have went into your room unless they had "permission" because anything they found would not be admissible in court as evidence. So either the warrant gave them permission to search the whole apartment for evidence, or he consented to the search and isn't tell you.

But they were searching for evidence that would incriminate the ROOMATE. If they found such evidence in DOUG'S room, they could still use the evidence against Doug's roomate because his rights were not violated, Doug's were and the roomate would not have standing to challenge the search. The exclusionary rule only give the remedy of exclusion of evidence to the person whose rights were violated.