CA4: Landlord could consent; defendant had been evicted and locks changed

Defendant had been evicted from his apartment by the landlord who had changed the locks. He had also expressed to her a desire to vacate and was leaving unwanted stuff behind. The landlord could not produce the key because her sister, the co-landlord, had it. The officers went up the fire escape and looked in the window finding the place trashed with what was left behind. They entered. The reasonable objective facts available to the officers were that the defendant had vacated or been evicted or both. The landlord thus had the apparent authority to consent. United States v. Naughton, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 15592 (4th Cir. September 2, 2015).

It was reasonable for officers to open defendant’s vehicle door to check on him under the community caretaking function. Officers were summoned to a Walmart and found defendant’s girlfriend inside so intoxicated she was falling asleep standing up holding on to a shopping cart. They talked to her and she said she was taking pills for back pain, and her boyfriend was in the car waiting for her, and he could drive her away. They went to the car and saw him asleep in the passenger seat and shined a light in and he had a baggie in his hand. They opened the door to wake him up, and he attempted to discard the baggie. United States v. Lewis, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118145 (E.D.Ky. September 4, 2015).*