Thomas

United States v. Thomas

Good Law
302 F. App'x 558
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitDecember 1, 2008No. 08-30030California237 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

*559 MEMORANDUM **

Rodney Glen Thomas (Thomas) appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence retrieved from his home computers.

Thomas’s wife voluntarily consented to the federal agents’ request to seize the computers. “[A] person with common authority over property can consent to a search of that property without the permission of the other persons with whom he shares the authority.” United States v. Murphy, 516 F.3d 1117, 1122 (9th Cir.2008) (citations omitted). Any statements made by the agents regarding their ability to obtain a search warrant did not vitiate the voluntariness of her consent. See United States v. Whitworth, 856 F.2d 1268, 1279 (9th Cir.1988) (“[The agent’s] statement indicating that a search warrant would likely be sought ... could not have, by itself, rendered Whitworth’s consent involuntary as a matter of law.”) (citations omitted).

Search of the computers was within the scope of Mrs. Thomas’s consent. See Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251 , 111 S.Ct. 1801 , 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991) (“The standard for measuring the scope of [an individual’s] consent under the Fourth Amendment is that of ‘objective’ reasonableness ... ”)…

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