Opinion ID: 2570471
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Evidence obtained from appellant's apartment

Text: Peck claims that the entry and search of his apartment was illegal and that the evidence obtained should have been suppressed. There was conflicting evidence presented during the suppression hearing. The police testified that Peck's wife invited them into the apartment and she voluntarily signed a consent to search form. Peck's wife stated that the officers came in when she went to get her bathrobe and she signed the consent form only after the officers threatened that if she did not sign they would obtain a search warrant, return and tear up the apartment. The district court denied the motion to suppress. [F]indings of fact in a suppression hearing will not be disturbed on appeal if supported by substantial evidence. Stevenson v. State, 114 Nev. 674, 679, 961 P.2d 137, 140 (1998); see also Rice v. State, 113 Nev. 425, 427, 936 P.2d 319, 320 (1997). Further, a district court's findings of fact are reviewed under a deferential standard. See Hayes v. State, 106 Nev. 543, 550 n. 1, 797 P.2d 962, 966 n. 1 (1990). [A] waiver and consent, freely and intelligently given, converts a search and seizure which otherwise would be unlawful into a lawful search and seizure. State v. Plas, 80 Nev. 251, 254, 391 P.2d 867, 868 (1964). Whether in a particular case an apparent consent to search without a warrant was voluntarily given is a question of fact. Id. at 253, 391 P.2d at 868. This court is not a fact-finding tribunal; that function is best performed by the district court. Zugel v. Miller, 99 Nev. 100, 101, 659 P.2d 296, 297 (1983). In this case, the district court resolved the discrepancies in the testimony in favor of the police officers and ruled that the consent to enter the apartment and search was voluntarily given by Peck's wife. There was sufficient evidence to support the ruling and the district court did not err when it refused to suppress the evidence obtained during the search of the apartment.