Opinion ID: 10013
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Does At Mean In?

Text: 9 Stewart argues that she gave Officer Beall consent to look at the medicine bottle but not in the medicine bottle. Therefore, his look inside of the bottle was beyond the scope of her consent and constitutes an unlawful search. We disagree. 10 Stewart does not challenge the voluntariness of the consent. Therefore, we consider only whether Officer Beall's conduct in looking inside the medicine bottle exceeded the scope of the consent. United States v. Rich, 992 F.2d 502, 505 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 933, 114 S.Ct. 348, 126 L.Ed.2d 312 (1993). 11 The standard for measuring the scope of the suspect's consent is objective reasonableness. Id. at 505. Recitation of magic words is unnecessary; the key inquiry focuses on what the typical reasonable person would have understood by the exchange between the officer and the suspect. Id. at 505-06. The scope of a search is generally defined by its expressed object. Florida v. Jimeno, 500 U.S. 248, 251, 111 S.Ct. 1801, 1803-04, 114 L.Ed.2d 297 (1991); Rich, 992 F.2d at 506. 12 In Rich, a police officer asked the driver of a truck if he was carrying any narcotics or weapons in the truck. After the driver said no, the officer asked to have a look in the truck to which the driver consented. The officer unlocked the truck, looked inside and opened a suitcase that he found in the truck. The officer discovered marijuana in the suitcase and arrested the driver. The Court held that the suitcase search was not beyond the scope of the driver's consent and that any words, when viewed in context, that objectively communicate to a reasonable individual that the officer is requesting permission to examine the vehicle and its contents constitute a valid search request for Fourth Amendment purposes. Rich, 992 F.2d at 506. 13 Objective reasonableness is a question of law reviewed de novo. Rich, 992 F.2d at 505; United States v. Ibarra, 965 F.2d 1354, 1357 (5th Cir.1992) (en banc) (7-7 decision). Factual circumstances surrounding the consent may be important in determining the nature of the consent and how a reasonable officer would have understood that consent. Rich, 992 F.2d at 505. 14 Beall was caught traveling under an assumed name and was nervous when speaking to the officers. Stewart knew Beall's purpose because he asked Stewart if she was carrying any illegal drugs or weapons before asking to look at the bottle. This question establishes the object of the search. See Rich at 507. Because Stewart knew her deception was uncovered and that Beall was looking for illegal drugs, it is objectively reasonable to expect Beall to look in the bottle after being granted permission to look at the bottle. The search was within the scope of Stewart's consent. 15