CA8: Relationships can create apparent authority for third party consent

Relationships can create a reasonable belief in apparent authority to consent. United States v. Almeida-Perez, 549 F.3d 1162 (8th Cir. 2008):

In the same vein, certain relationships between the occupants may give rise to the presumption that one has authority to consent to search of the other’s property. For instance, in United States v. Wright, 564 F.2d 785, 790 (8th Cir. 1977), where the defendant was an adult living with his mother, the mother had authority to consent to the search of his dresser. In United States v. Clark, 409 F.3d 1039, 1044 (8th Cir. 2005), police reasonably relied on a wife’s permission to search a closet in which the wife reported that the defendant often hid things; nothing in the circumstances showed that the defendant had exclusive access to the closet. The Seventh Circuit has held that “a spouse presumptively has authority to consent to a search of all areas of the homestead; the nonconsenting spouse may rebut this presumption only by showing that the consenting spouse was denied access to the particular area searched.” United States v. Duran, 957 F.2d 499, 505 (7th Cir. 1992). It would be more accurate to say that the nonconsenting spouse must show that police had reason to know the area or container was off-limits to the consenting spouse.

In this case, the testimony of Raggs supported the Magistrate Judge’s finding that Maria Juarez gave permission to enter the bedrooms. It was reasonable for Ortiz to rely on the words and gesture of Maria Juarez, the proprietress of the house and the wife of Porfirio, to conclude that he was authorized to push the doors open and step in the rooms in order to communicate with the people inside. The district court’s legal conclusions in denying the suppression motion were sound.