Opinion ID: 2184913
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: seizure pursuant to consent

Text: The defendant's final argument on the consent issue is that, even if we assume a valid consent, nothing was seized pursuant thereto. The argument rests on the assumption the consent gave only a limited authority to search which had expired or which had been relinquished prior to any seizure. The contention must fail in view of our holding that the consent was not so limited. The authority conferred by Mrs. Koucoules continued throughout the afternoon and it is immaterial that the officers conducting the search may have mistakenly believed otherwise, when they interrupted the search to seek a warrant. Their own view of the source of their authority is not determinative of the lawfulness of a search. In State v. Brochu, supra, the officers' erroneous belief that they had a valid consent to search did not render the search unlawful, where there was also a valid, although unexecuted, warrant authorizing the search. And in State v. Thibodeau, 1974, Me., 317 A.2d 172, we relied on Brochu to hold the officers' mistaken belief that they were acting pursuant to the authority of a warrant did not render the search illegal, where there was also a valid consent which authorized the search. In the present case, there is not a scintilla of evidence which would suggest that, in seeking a warrant, the officers themselves believed the consent was invalid or had expired. The election to obtain a warrant on the advice of counsel might be viewed to reflect only an overabundance of caution. In conclusion, we hold that the Justice below was correct in ruling that the .22 caliber gun and holster found in the attic were properly seized by the police and his denial of the defendant's motion to suppress the same was not error. His suppression, however, of the ladder, the insulation and the cover of the crawl space, all items in plain view in the course of the search for the gun, was error as a matter of law and the State's appeal in respect thereto must be sustained. [6] The entry will be Defendant's interlocutory appeal denied. State's interlocutory appeal sustained. Case remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.