Opinion ID: 1772145
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: was the consent to search the mobile home given by mary lube invalid?

Text: On remand from this Court, an extensive hearing was held in the trial court on the appellant's motion to suppress the result of the search of the mobile home. The proof presented in that hearing revealed that at about 1:30 p.m. on the afternoon of September 14, 1984, Sheriff Thaggard began searching for the appellant to arrest him for a parole violation. The sheriff and several other officers searched the area around the mobile home but were unable to find the appellant. At that time however, they noticed a strong smell emanating from the trailer, which seemed to be ether. The officers then drove to a house located approximately 200 yards from the trailer. The appellant was seen walking away from the house and placed under arrest; he was also advised of his Miranda rights at this time. When asked about the trailer, the appellant told the officers that Mary Lube owned it, and gave them a key to the trailer. At about 2:00 p.m. Deputy Bobby Brown was instructed by Thaggard to ask Mary Lube to come to the police station to speak to Thaggard. Lube agreed to accompany Brown to the police station and Brown testified that he did not force her to go with him, nor did he threaten her or promise anything to her in order to obtain her consent to see Thaggard. She was also not placed under arrest at that time. At the police station, Lube admitted she owned the trailer and signed a written consent form, allowing the officers to search the trailer. Several other officers corroborated Brown's version of this story at the suppression hearing and at trial. It is also true that Lube was later arrested, put in jail and kept overnight until bail could be supplied. However, she was never indicted or prosecuted for her involvement in the appellant's crimes. It appears from the appellant's brief that the source of his claim that the consent given by Mary Lube was invalid is the fact that she had been arrested without probable cause. This Court holds that the appellant does not have standing to question Ms. Lube's arrest. The U.S. Supreme Court has held that Fourth Amendment rights are personal rights and may not be asserted vicariously. In Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 99 S.Ct. 421, 58 L.Ed.2d 387 (1978), the U.S. Supreme Court held that standing to invoke Fourth Amendment rights requires a finding that the proponent of the rights has an alleged injury in fact, and that the proponent is asserting his legal rights and interests rather than basing his claim for relief upon the rights of third parties. This Court has adopted this view. See Ware v. State, 410 So.2d 1330, 1331, 1332 (Miss. 1982). If Mary Lube had been prosecuted for a crime arising from the events which transpired in this case, she certainly would have standing to litigate this issue. However, the appellant possesses no such right, due to the fact that the right involved is a personal one belonging to Mary Lube only. The cases cited by the appellant in his brief are not persuasive, for the simple fact that in each of those cases the appellant was asserting a challenge based on his or her own Fourth Amendment rights, rather than those of someone else. Therefore, these cases provide no support for the appellant's position. The trial court held that the appellant had no standing to litigate this issue. However, had the court ruled on the merits of the claim presented under this assignment of error, it is the opinion of this Court that there was sufficient proof before the court to show that Mary Lube was neither under arrest nor in custody at the time she executed the consent to search. It is also undisputed that the trailer in question belonged to her; therefore, she had every reason and right to consent to a search of her own property. She also testified at trial that at no time did the officers threaten, promise or use any other form of inducement or intimidation to secure her consent to search the trailer. It is therefore the opinion of this writer that there is no merit to this assignment of error.