CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-FOURTH AMENDMENT-EXCLUSION OF CONTRABAND EVIDENCE OBTAINED BY AN ILLEGAL SEARCH ON PREMISES NOT OWNED BY DEFENDANT

Authors

Edgar A. Strause, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

The defendant was in the unlawful possession of narcotics. Having been given a key by his two aunts to their hotel room with authority to use the room at will, defendant stored the narcotics there without the knowledge of the occupants. A federal officer entered the hotel room, searched the room, and seized the narcotics during the absence of the occupants, without a search warrant. The defendant was arrested the following day and claimed ownership of the seized narcotics. He was convicted in the District Court of the District of Columbia for violation of federal law, the court refusing to suppress the seized narcotics as evidence at the trial despite timely motion by the defendant to exclude. The court of appeals reversed the conviction. On certiorari to the United States Supreme Court, held, affirmed, the Chief Justice and Justice Reed dissenting. Although the defendant had no interest in the place searched, he had a sufficient interest in the contraband narcotics seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment to be entitled to their exclusion as evidence on his trial. United States v. Jeffers, 342 U.S.·48, 72 S.Ct. 93 (1951).

Recommended Citation

Edgar A. Strause, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-FOURTH AMENDMENT-EXCLUSION OF CONTRABAND EVIDENCE OBTAINED BY AN ILLEGAL SEARCH ON PREMISES NOT OWNED BY DEFENDANT, 50 Mich. L. Rev. 931 (1952).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol50/iss6/10