United States v. Robert Blunt

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-Appellant Robert Ellis Blunt appeals his conviction for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1).

I.

The district court properly denied Blunt’s motion to suppress the firearms evidence discovered in the trunk of Kevin Wennig’s vehicle.

As a threshold matter, whether police unlawfully impounded the vehicle under Washington law is irrelevant; officers twice obtained owner — operator Wennig’s consent to search the vehicle: once before searching the car’s passenger compartment, and again before searching the vehicle’s locked trunk. See Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 222 , 93 S.Ct. 2041 , 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973) (“[A] search conducted pursuant to a valid consent is constitutionally permissible.”).

Blunt also has standing problems. At best, as a passenger without a possesso-ry interest in Wennig’s vehicle, Blunt can challenge only the search of his sealed “Boeing” bag that officers discovered in the trunk of Wennig’s car. See Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 148-49 , 99 S.Ct. 421 , 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978) (“[T]he trunk of an automobile” is an area “in which a passenger qua passenger simply would not…