Opinion ID: 1928519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: validity of geist's consent.

Text: The state also contends that even given an illegal entry into the apartment, the methamphetamine was properly seized because Scott Geist signed a consent to search form. Defense counsel counters that the consent was coerced. Valid consent searches constitute one well-recognized exception to the requirement of a valid search warrant, and also to the requirement of probable cause. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973); State v. Angel, 356 So.2d 986 (La.1978). Where a consent to search is obtained after an illegal detention or entry the issue is whether the post-arrest consent is the product of free will or the result of exploitation of the previous illegality. Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590, 95 S.Ct. 2254, 45 L.Ed.2d 416 (1975); State v. Mitchell, 360 So.2d 189 (La.1978). In deciding this issue, we have previously stated that: [T]he court should take into account not only whether the governmental officers adequately informed the accused that he need not comply with their request, but also the temporal proximity between the arrest and the act (consent) allegedly to be coerced, the presence of intervening circumstances, and the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct. State v. Mitchell, supra, at 360 So.2d 191. At the time Scott Geist signed the consent form, approximately thirty minutes had elapsed since the initial police entry. He was already under arrest for drugs and drug paraphernalia found on the coffee table. This arrest followed an illegal entry into his apartment without probable cause and in violation of his constitutional right to be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures. While several officers stood as armed guards of the other suspects, two armed officers took Geist into the bedroom and requested that he sign the consent to search form. He was told that his failure to do so would not prevent the search since the officers would merely procure a search warrant. Given the fact that Geist was already under arrest for possession of drugs found as a result of an illegal entry into his home and given that he was told that the officers could obtain a warrant regardless of his consent, we believe that Geist's consent to search was coerced through exploitation of the prior illegal entry.