GA: The owner of a house may consent to a search of the room of a guest

The owner of a house may consent to a search of the room of a guest. Just because defendant’s landlord said he paid rent didn’t mean that the trial court had to credit that testimony as a whole in the case. “In this case, some evidence supported the trial court’s finding that Payon was a guest rather than a tenant.” “Since the trial court found that Payton was a guest in Odom’s house, Odom, as the resident homeowner, was authorized to consent to the search of Payton’s bedroom, regardless of whether Payton was an adult, locked his door, or kept Odom out of his bedroom.” Payton v. State, 2014 Ga. App. LEXIS 98 (March 4, 2014).

There is no evidence that the defendant abandoned her cell phone, and the government’s argument is rejected. The search warrant for the cell phone was based on probable cause. United States v. Brown, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185662 (D. Minn. December 13, 2013),* adopted 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25395 (D. Minn., Feb. 26, 2014)* (rejected as to another part not involving the search issue). [If there was PC, why go into the abandonment argument at all? It’s not that hard to show PC.]