TX7: Officer reasonably relied on landlord’s representation of defendant’s eviction

The officer reasonably relied on information that defendant had been evicted for the landlord’s consent to search. Later information was to the contrary, but “reasonableness is not assessed through the lens of hindsight. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. at 188.” Biera v. State, 391 S.W.3d 204 (Tex. App. – Amarillo 2012):

Relying on the fact the Lubbock County justice court judgment was a money judgment for delinquent rent, not one authorizing eviction, appellant asserts the apartment manager had no legal right of access to the apartment. A copy of the judgment the manager showed the detective was admitted at the suppression hearing. It was signed September 1, 2005 in a case styled Mission Square [Apts] v. Adrian Biera, and ordered appellant to pay $604 plus court costs. At the suppression hearing, the detective agreed that “a few days later” she learned not every legal step had been taken by September 29 for management to evict appellant from the apartment. A writ of possession was executed on October 7. In response to appellant’s assertion, we first note that reasonableness is not assessed through the lens of hindsight. Rodriguez, 497 U.S. at 188 (“As with other factual determinations bearing upon search and seizure, determination of consent to enter must be judged against an objective standard: would the facts available to the officer at the moment … warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the consenting party had authority over the premises?” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Second, we point out concepts of state property law do not control Fourth Amendment analysis. See Mugweni v. United States, Nos. 3:09-CV-2245-K, 3:07-CR-0159-K, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 13671, at *9-10 (N.D. Tex. Feb. 10, 2011) (stating for Fourth Amendment purposes whether landlord had attempted eviction under Texas property law was immaterial; rather, determinative factor was whether defendant relinquished reasonable expectation of privacy in property so that search and seizure was valid); United States v. Opeoluwa Adigun, No. 1:10-CR-00202-RWS-RGV, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 60310, at *82-92 (N.D. Ga. May 4, 2011) (magistrate judge’s report and recommendation), approved and adopted, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 60303 (N.D. Ga. June 3, 2011) (noting inapplicability of private property law to Fourth Amendment analysis and finding officers had reasonable, good faith basis for believing owner had regained possession of property and could consent to its search when evidence included representations of owner that tenants were evicted and he was preparing to “clean the building out,” and he unlocked the front door with his key). See generally Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. at 617.