Cassady
Verified Attorney
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2020
- Messages
- 339
- Reaction score
- 4,186
The chances of the property owner being a co-conspirator are super small. I am certain that’s not the case here. LE stated that he is not involved. However, that can be true in a case like this. So why risk it?
But more importantly, this search involved property damage and expensive equipment. Have you ever seen LE conduct a search in a high profile missing person/murder investigation where they bring all that to property and destroy it, without a warrant?
I have not. It seems like a high probability that the process would be impeded by the owner and that would be a huge waste of time for nothing. There’s a reason why search warrants are LE protocol in cases like this, IMO.
LE is very well trained in the use of SW's and the exceptions to SW's. Sometimes they do not have enough evidence to get a search warrant. If someone consents, and it is voluntary, that is still a lawful exception to the warrant requirement. LE uses these searches in all sorts of cases, including murder, which is one of the most serious offenses on the books.
Consent Searches are an important tool for LE and I have seen them used it many types of cases. And yes, sometimes they destroy property during consent searches. The only time damage comes into the analysis is if there is a challenge to the reasonableness of the scope of the search or whether it exceeded the areas listed to be searched on the SW itself.
Again though, one must have standing to challenge a search and in this matter the spouse of the missing person would not have standing to challenge the search at the job site and LE would have known that.
The Chaffee County Courthouse should be able to confirm the existence of a sealed SW for that property if there was one used.