E.D.La.: Defendant’s permission to drive a rental car was not shown, so no standing

Defendant was in a rented car and unusually nervous. There was nothing in the proffered rental agreement found with the car that referred to defendant or how he came into possession of the car. If he was in possession of the car with permission of the renter, it could have been “easily provided.” Therefore, he lacked standing. United States v. Daniels, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110781 (E.D. La. August 19, 2008):

Although it is certainly plausible that the rental agreement in the car was an old agreement, there is no evidence before the Court that Robert Bell is the step-father of Daniels, that he gave Daniels permission to use the car, or that the rental agreement authorized others to drive the car. Based on the evidence before the Court, the Court finds that Daniels has failed to establish that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy with respect to a search of the vehicle. See also United States v. Muhammad, 58 F.3d 353 (5th Cir. 1995) (holding that defendant had not introduced any evidence that he had permission to drive rental car, and thus lacked standing to challenge search). Furthermore, such evidence could have easily been furnished if it existed. Accordingly, the Court finds that the defendant lacks standing to challenge the seizure of the firearm found in a search of the rental vehicle.

Questions to the defendant while the officer was waiting for a normal length response from dispatch did not make the stop unreasonable. United States v. Franklin, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98110 (D. Kan. October 15, 2009).*

Defendant’s admission during execution of a search warrant about child sexual abuse that he had probable child pornography on his computer made it reasonable for the officers to seize the computer even though it was not subject to the search warrant. A federal search warrant was then obtained for the computer. United States v. Pontefract, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110754 (W.D. La. August 14, 2008).*