NY3: Failure to raise scope of consent to search in trial court is waiver

The car defendant back seat passenger was in was stopped for a traffic violation, and there was a furtive movement by the front seat passenger just before the vehicle came to a stop. The driver said they were going to Vermont, but she didn’t know any of the passengers. That was suspicious, so he had her get out of the car. At issue now is a search of a back seat passenger’s purse by consent of the driver. “For the first time on appeal, defendant now argues that the driver lacked actual or apparent authority to consent to a search of the purse, which was later determined to belong to a female backseat passenger …. By not raising this argument before the suppression court, defendant has failed to preserve the issue for our review.” People v. Nelson, 2017 NY Slip Op 08903, 2017 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8990 (3d Dept. Dec. 21, 2017).