CA4: Abuse against live-in girlfriend’s child and her planning to move doesn’t negate her apparent authority

“[W]e conclude that Webb’s girlfriend, Heather Upchurch, had actual and apparent authority to consent to the search of the house. She and their infant daughter lived in the house with Webb for six months. Upchurch had as much interest in the house as did Webb. Upchurch kept all of her belongings there. The fact that she believed Webb abused their daughter, as later proven at a criminal trial, and she could no longer stay at the house with Webb, did not result in the surrender of her authority over the house days after an abusive incident.” Webb v. Brawn, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16315 (4th Cir. September 14, 2015).