Court Opinion

ID: 9603931
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:11:28.77281+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:18.183871
License: Public Domain

Blackburn, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
Despite the binding authority of the United States Supreme Court’s holding in United States v. Matlock,38 and the persuasive authority of our federal courts interpreting Matlock, both the majority opinion and the special concurrences establish a contrary rule for Fourth Amendment issues in Georgia regarding consent searches to that established by the United States Supreme Court.
This Court, however, has no authority to either ignore or modify *408holdings of the United States Supreme Court regarding the interpretation of the Fourth Amendment of our Federal Constitution. This Court also lacks authority to create new search and seizure laws more restrictive of police activity than those issued by the United States Supreme Court, as that power is reserved for the Supreme Court of Georgia through interpretation of our State Constitution or the Georgia Legislature through passage of constitutional statutory law. This Court is not an arbiter of public policy, but a tribunal of laws bound by precedent. Because the majority and special concurrence in this case either misconstrue controlling precedent or exceed this Court’s authority, I must respectfully dissent.
The present case is controlled by Matlock, which stands for the proposition “that if the state can establish that the third party shares an area with another more or less equally, that party’s consent authorizes a search of the entire area regardless of the other person’s proximity to, agreement with, or relationship with the third party.” Whitebread and Slobogin, Criminal Procedure: An Analysis of Cases and Concepts 288 (4th ed. 2000). “Matlock’s third-party consent rule applies even when a present subject of the search objects.” Lenz v. Winburn.39
Here, the defendant’s wife, with whom he shared his home equally, consented to a search of the home while the defendant, who was present, objected thereto. Matlock involved a consent to search given by Matlock’s girlfriend, who was a co-occupant, while Matlock, who was present on the premises, was not asked for a consent to search. The United States Supreme Court approved the search, despite Matlock’s presence. Under Matlock, the search here was proper, whether or not the defendant was present or objected to his wife’s consent to the search.
This Court is absolutely bound to follow precedent set by the United States Supreme Court on federal constitutional questions. This case involves search and seizure issues under the Fourth Amendment. This Court cannot establish a more restrictive view of Fourth Amendment search and seizure law grounded in public policy aspirations. Where the Georgia Constitution or an act of the Georgia Legislature provides greater protections for our citizens than does the Federal Constitution, Georgia is free to apply such standard where there is no reliance on the Federal Constitution or United States Supreme Court precedent, which circumstances are not applicable here.
This limitation on our power is evident from the standards *409adopted by the United States Supreme Court in determining whether it might have jurisdiction over a case.
Under Michigan v. Long,40 when “a state court decision fairly appears to rest primarily on federal law, or to be interwoven with the federal law, and when the adequacy and independence of any possible state law ground [are] not clear from the face of the opinion, [the United States Supreme Court] will accept as the most reasonable explanation that the state court decided the case the way it did because it believed that federal law required it to do so.” Id. at 1040-1041.
(Footnote omitted.) Ohio v. Robinette.41
There is no question that this case relies directly and inextricably on federal law. Even those Georgia cases cited by the majority and special concurrence in reaching their conclusions explicitly cite precedent from the United States Supreme Court as the basis for their holdings. Furthermore, neither the majority nor the special concurrence has cited any source of state legal authority under our constitution, case law, or statute, which would allow them to set forth the rule they now wish to enforce.
In the absence of such authority, this Court simply has no power to ignore the facts and holding of Matlock. We cannot unilaterally impose greater restrictions on police activity than those held by the United States Supreme Court to be necessary under federal standards unless we can unequivocally base our opinion either on a decision by our state Supreme Court so interpreting our State Constitution or a statute enacted by our legislature, which is not unconstitutional. See, e.g., OCGA § 17-5-30 (no good faith exception to the exclusionary rule in Georgia). The majority and special concurrence cite no such authority. In addition to failing to follow binding federal precedent, the holdings of the majority and special concurrence in establishing their new standard usurp the authority of both our state Supreme Court and our legislature. Such a holding oversteps this Court’s bounds.
Turning to the substance of the case now before us, the hallmark of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence is protection from unreasonable and arbitrary searches and seizures by the State. If a police officer has been informed by one occupant of a particular premises that his or her co-occupant has committed a crime inside and explicitly gives the officer permission to search the premises, it cannot be said that *410the officer acts unreasonably or arbitrarily in conducting a search based on this consent, even if the co-occupant is present and objects to the search.
In turn, the application of the Fourth Amendment to cases involving the consent of a third-party co-occupant to search shared property is based on the idea that, by sharing property, one may waive his expectation of privacy with regard to the shared property and assume the risk that any person sharing dominion over it may, in his own right, allow a search of that property, unless and until such time as the property is no longer shared and the waiver of privacy rights has thereby been explicitly withdrawn. See, e.g., United States v. Morning;42 United States v. Flores 43
In this case, the police officers acted reasonably in searching the premises in question after the defendant’s wife informed them of a crime being committed and then consented to the search. Because the defendant shared dominion over the property with his wife at the time consent was given by her, the waiver of his expectation of privacy with regard to the premises remained in effect. With his expectation of privacy still waived with regard to his wife, the defendant had no right to trump her consent to search their home. Id.
A detailed consideration of the facts of Matlock directly informs our decision here.
Matlock was indicted in February 1971 for the robbery of a federally insured bank in Wisconsin, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2113. A week later, he filed a motion to suppress evidence seized by law enforcement officers from a home in the town of Pardeeville, Wisconsin, in which he had been living. Suppression hearings followed. As found by the District Court, the facts were that respondent was arrested in the yard in front of the Pardeeville home on November 12, 1970. The home was leased from the owner by Mr. and Mrs. Marshall. Living in the home were Mrs. Marshall, several of her children, including her daughter Mrs. Gayle Graff, Gayle’s three-year-old son, and respondent. Although the officers were aware at the time of the arrest that respondent lived in the house, they did not ask him which room he occupied or whether he would consent to a search. Three of the arresting officers went to the door of the house and were admitted by Mrs. Graff, who was dressed in a robe and was holding her son in her arms. The officers told her they were looking for money and a gun and asked if they could search the house. *411Although denied by Mrs. Graff at the suppression hearings, it was found that she consented voluntarily to the search of the house, including the east bedroom on the second floor which she said was jointly occupied by Matlock and herself. The east bedroom was searched and the evidence at issue here, $4,995 in cash, was found in a diaper bag in the only closet in the room. The issue came to be whether Mrs. Graff’s relationship to the east bedroom was sufficient to make her consent to the search valid against respondent Matlock.
(Footnote omitted; emphasis supplied.) Matlock, supra at 166-167.
In order to answer this question, the Supreme Court first canvassed the law regarding third-party consents to search as it had developed in a number of federal district courts around the country.
The Supreme Court summarized:
It has been assumed by the parties and the courts below that the voluntary consent of any joint occupant of a residence to search the premises jointly occupied is valid against the co-occupant, permitting evidence discovered in the search to be used against him at a criminal trial. This basic proposition was accepted by the Seventh Circuit in this case, as it had been in prior cases, and has generally been applied in similar circumstances by other courts of appeals, and various state courts. This Court left open, in Amos v. United States,44 the question whether [a] wife’s permission to search the residence in which she lived with her husband could “waive his constitutional rights,” but more recent authority here clearly indicates that the consent of one who possesses common authority over premises or effects is valid as against the absent, nonconsenting person with whom that authority is shared. In Frazier v. Cupp,45 the Court “dismissed rather quickly” the contention that the consent of the petitioner’s cousin to the search of a duffel bag, which was being used jointly by both men and had been left in the cousin’s home, would not justify the seizure of petitioner’s clothing found inside; joint use of the bag rendered the cousin’s authority to consent to its search clear. Indeed, the Court was unwilling to engage in the “metaphysical subtleties” raised by Frazier’s claim that his cousin only had permission to use one compartment within the bag. By allowing *412the cousin the use of the bag, and by leaving it in his house, Frazier was held to have assumed the risk that his cousin would allow someone else to look inside. Ibid. More generally, in Schneckloth v. Bustamonte,46 we noted that our prior recognition of the constitutional validity of “third party consent” searches in cases like Frazier and Coolidge v. New Hampshire47 supported the view that a consent search is fundamentally different in nature from the waiver of a trial right. These cases at least make clear that when the prosecution seeks to justify a warrantless search by proof of voluntary consent, it is not limited to proof that consent was given by the defendant, but may show that permission to search was obtained from a third party who possessed common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected. The issue now before us is whether the Government made the requisite showing in this case.
(Citation and footnotes omitted; emphasis supplied.) Matlock, supra at 169-172.
Expounding on the emphasized language above, the Supreme Court clarified:
The authority which justifies the third-party consent . . . rests ... on mutual use of the property by persons generally having joint access or control for most purposes, so that it is reasonable to recognize that any of the co-inhabitants has the right to permit the inspection in his own right and that the others have assumed the risk that one of their number might permit the common area to be searched.
(Emphasis supplied.) Matlock, supra at 171, n. 7.
Based on these conclusions of law, the Supreme Court, after finding that Matlock’s girlfriend did indeed have equal dominion and control over the house and the bedroom, ruled that the search and seizure in that case were acceptable. And, the Supreme Court reached this conclusion despite the fact that, at the time that police asked Matlock’s girlfriend for permission to search, Matlock was present and standing just in the front yard, and the officers knew that Matlock was an occupant of the house but chose not to ask him for permission to search. Clearly, the logical basis for this conclusion was just as the Supreme Court explicitly stated in the case: any co*413habitant has the right to permit the inspection of shared property in his own right based on his relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected, and the presence or absence of any other cohabitant cannot alter or vitiate this right.
A large number of other courts and jurisdictions have reached this conclusion.
It is well settled that a search conducted pursuant to voluntarily obtained consent comes within an exception to the general warrant requirement of the [F]ourth [AJmendment. Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, [supra]. It is equally well settled that a third person, other than the defendant, can consent to a search of a defendant’s premises or effects if that third person has common authority over the premises or effects. [Matlock, supra]. Matlock did not depend on the defendant’s absence for the defendant there had just been arrested in the front yard of the residence when the third person’s consent to search was procured.
(Emphasis supplied.) United States v. Sumlin,48 See also J. L. Foti Constr. Co. v. Donovan.49
In addition, as stated in People v. Cosme50:
an individual who possesses the requisite degree of control over specific premises is vested in his own right with the authority to permit an official inspection of such premises and that this authority is not circumscribed by any “reasonable expectation of privacy” belonging to co-occupants. Whether the principle is characterized as an “assumption of risk” or a relinquishment of the “expectation of privacy” guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, the fact remains that where an individual shares with others common authority over premises or property, he has no right to prevent a search in the face of the knowing and voluntary consent of a co-occupant with equal authority. It then follows that such an individual has no constitutional ground for complaint, in the absence of some other taint arising in connection with the search, when evidence obtained in the search is sought to be used against him in a subsequent criminal proceeding.
Id. at 292.
*414A co-occupant’s presence or absence at the time of another co-occupant’s consent to search raises a distinction without a constitutional difference where the expectation of privacy has been relinquished.
The holding of Matlock[, supra,] focused on whether or not the “permission to search was obtained from a third party who possessed common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected.” [Id. at 171.] The rationale behind this rule is that a joint occupant assumes the risk of his co-occupant exposing their common private areas to such a search. Id. at 171 n. 7. See United States v. Solimine;51 United States v. Canada;52 Kirvelaitis v. Gray 53 There is no reasonable expectation of privacy to be protected under such circumstances. We cannot see how the additional fact of Appellant’s . . . refusal to consent in any way lessened the risk assumed that his co-occupant would consent. This additional fact does not increase a reasonable expectation of privacy.
(Emphasis supplied.) Sumlin, supra at 688.
Anyone who “possesse(s) common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected” may consent to the search of another’s property. [Matlock, supra at 171]. . . . Matlock’s third-party consent rule applies even when a present subject of the search objects. See, e.g., United States v. Donlin;54 United States v. Childs;55 J. L. Foti Constr. Co.[, supra at 717]; Donovan v. A. A. Beiro Constr. Co.;56 United States v. Baldwin;57 United States v. Bethea.58
Lenz, supra.
*415As stated in United States v. Shelton,59 “the Fourth Amendment does not protect ‘a wrongdoer’s misplaced belief that a person to whom he voluntarily confides his wrongdoing will not reveal it.’ ”
The analyses of the majority opinion and special concurrence in this case are flawed for two main reasons: (1) they misconstrue the analysis in Matlock and (2) they conflate two separate elements in the Fourth Amendment jurisprudence at play here — the waiver of an expectation of privacy to a co-occupant and the effect of that waiver on the waiving individual’s right to refuse a search of a shared premises consented to by a co-occupant. Each of these points will be considered in turn.
The special concurrence mischaracterizes the holding in Mat-lock, as standing for the proposition that one co-occupant can only consent to a search against another co-occupant who is absent from the scene. Contrary to the special concurrence, Matlock was not a case where the complaining co-occupant was absent. Matlock was on the premises, and despite their knowledge of his dominion over the searched property, the police chose not to seek Matlock’s permission to search. In spite of Matlock’s presence, the Supreme Court still found that the search was proper.
The special concurrence establishes an exigent circumstance requirement for valid consent from a co-occupant in Georgia. This would result in a different application of the Fourth Amendment in Georgia than in the federal courts or in the courts of other states. Under the Fourth Amendment, there are two general exceptions to a warrantless search: (1) valid consent and (2) exigent circumstances. If one exception exists, it is generally irrelevant to the validity of the search whether the other one also exists.
The requirement that a spousal consent to search is valid only if an exigent circumstance also exists merges two independent authorizations for a search. If an exigent circumstance exists, there is no need for consent from either spouse. On analysis, the special concurrence’s position effectively establishes that one spouse cannot validly consent to the search of the marital home, if the other spouse is present and refuses the request to search. In other words, either spouse could effectively veto the valid consent to search of the other, absent the existence of an exigent circumstance. The Fourth Amendment requires a valid consent or the existence of an exigent circumstance to support a warrantless search of a marital abode. While not applicable here, the authority to consent to a warrantless search of a marital abode is not even limited to the parties to the marriage.
Despite persuasive federal cases from the First, Fourth, Fifth, *416Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and District of Columbia Circuits which are directly on point in this matter and state the opposite conclusion,60 the majority opinion states: “Matlock and its progeny stand for the proposition that, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, there is a presumption that a co-occupant has waived his right of privacy as to other co-occupants. However, when police are confronted with an unequivocal assertion of that co-occupant’s Fourth Amendment right, such presumption cannot stand.”
The majority espouses a bright-line rule that, when a present co-occupant unequivocally objects to a search, police should be required to obtain a warrant even if another co-occupant has agreed to the search. In reaching this conclusion, the majority conflates two factors which must be considered separately in analyzing these cases: (1) an individual’s waiver of his expectation of privacy and (2) the effect of such waiver on the waiving individual’s subsequent right to refuse a search consented to by a co-occupant of a shared premises.
The analysis of Matlock and its progeny is based on the acquiescence of the defendant co-occupant to the mutual use of certain property with a second co-occupant. By agreeing to the mutual use of his property, the defendant co-occupant waives his Fourth Amendment expectation of privacy concerning the shared property with regard to the second co-occupant and directly assumes the risk that the second co-occupant, exercising his dominion over the property, might allow others to search it. Following such waiver, the second co-occupant, in his own right and irrespective of the rights of his other co-occupants, has the authority to permit an inspection of the shared area.
Contrary to the majority, one cannot summarily eliminate the authority of the co-occupant to consent to the search without first eliminating the waiver. Once the first co-occupant waives his expectation of privacy with regard to the second co-occupant by sharing dominion over certain property, he cannot regain that expectation of privacy and trump the resulting authority of the second co-occupant to allow a search in his own right simply by being present at the time the second co-occupant is asked to consent to a search. This is true because the resulting authority of the second co-occupant cannot be removed unless and until the causative sharing of dominion over property has ceased. “A defendant cannot expect sole exclusionary authority unless he lives alone, or at least has a special and private space within the joint residence.” Morning, supra at 536. Accordingly, cases such as Montero v. State,61 in which a single individual *417who has not shared dominion over his property and later withdraws his consent to search, have absolutely no relevance to the matter now before us.
The majority provides that, absent exigent circumstances, a warrant must be sought when a co-occupant is present and objecting, but not when one co-occupant is simply absent when the consent to search is given by another co-occupant. Under this theory, Randolph’s right to thwart a co-occupant’s authorized search is based on his presence at the time of the search rather than his expectation of privacy. If a defendant’s right to be free from an unreasonable search is based on an underlying expectation of privacy, then his presence or absence is irrelevant. The argument of the majority, in fact, involves asserting a right that has previously been waived. This Court lacks the authority to restrict United States Supreme Court precedent in this way.
And, even if one were to accept this bright-line rule requiring a warrant, one must then question what purpose it would serve. For example, under the very facts of this case, would the reviewing magistrate have any authority to disregard Matlock's clear holding that any co-occupant “has the right to permit the inspection in his own right,” Matlock, supra at 171, n. 7, and deny the warrant? The answer, of course, is “no.” As such, the bright-line rule of the majority serves only to delay the inevitable by complicating the search and seizure law and procedure and has no real effect on the fundamental rights of the parties involved.
Furthermore, the majority’s analysis, which relies upon the concept of one spouse improperly waiving the rights of the other, does not comport with the current state of the law. This problem is illustrated by People v. Jackson,62 in which a New York court, citing Cosme, supra, held that a wife could consent to a search of personal effects of her husband not exposed to public view. In doing so, the court rejected earlier New York cases which adopted the analysis espoused by the majority. The court found:
As Professor LaFave notes, it is doubtful whether the approach followed in [earlier cases] is consistent with more recent Fourth Amendment jurisprudence, since [that approach] relies upon a theory of one spouse waiving the other’s constitutional rights, as opposed to the “common authority” rationale adopted by the Supreme Court in Mat-lock[,] supra. LaFave observes: “(T)he mere fact that a certain object may be characterized as a ‘personal effect’ does *418not compel the conclusion that no risk is assumed by leaving that object in premises also occupied by a spouse[.] . . . “(T)he question is not whether the object seized was a personal effect of the nonconsenting spouse, but rather whether the object was kept in a place devoted to his exclusive use.” 3 LaFave, Search and Seizure § 8.4 [a], at 761 (3d ed).
(Punctuation omitted.) Id. at 481.
Based on this observation, the Jackson court held:
[T]his court presumes that Ms. Scipio had authority to consent to a search of defendant’s dresser drawer. Although Ms. Scipio indicated that the drawer in which the guns were found was used by defendant, the unlocked drawer was in a dresser located in defendant and Ms. Scipio’s bedroom. Ms. Scipio used one of the drawers in the same dresser. Defendant did not adduce any evidence that he had exclusive control over the top drawer or that his use of two of the three dresser drawers was anything other than a practical arrangement commonly agreed to by married persons. 0See, 3 LaFave, Search and Seizure § 8.4 [a], at 762 (3d ed) (“Under the Matlock assumption of risk approach, the requisite exclusive use is not established by the mere fact that only the other spouse had heretofore made it a practice to use the particular area searched; something more specific by way of a showing that the consenting spouse was denied access is required”).) Without such evidence, defendant has failed to rebut the presumption of mutual authority and the court finds that Ms. Scipio lawfully could consent to a search of defendant’s dresser drawer.
(Footnote omitted.) Id. at 483-484.
In support of its conclusion, the majority cites three cases, each of which is outdated, totally distinguishable, or otherwise problematic. First, the majority cites State v. Leach 63 As an initial matter, Leach misstates the holding of Matlock, purporting that the Supreme Court ruled: “the consent of one who possesses common authority over premises or effects is valid against the absent, nonconsenting person with whom that authority is shared.” (Punctuation and emphasis omitted.) Id. at 739. As noted above, this was, without question, not the holding of Matlock, as the defendant there was present at the time of the search. Thus, Leach is fundamentally flawed. Moreover, in reaching its conclusion, Leach relies almost *419exclusively on precedent pre-dating the decision in Matlock. And, finally, Leach is completely distinguishable from the current matter because, unlike the case now before us, the defendant in Leach did not object to the search in question. Id. at 738.
The majority also cites Florida law to support its position. The law in that state which is applicable here can be traced to Silva v. State.64 In Silva, the Florida Supreme Court considered the validity of a search of a closet in a home after the wife consented to the search and her husband, who was present, objected to the search. Although it ultimately held that the wife had no common authority over the closet in question and, therefore, could not assent to its search, the Florida court opined:
It is only reasonable that the person whose property is the object of a search should have controlling authority to refuse consent. His rights are personal to him and derive from the United States Constitution. Though a joint occupant should have authority to consent to a search of jointly held premises if the other party is unavailable, a present, objecting party should not have his constitutional rights ignored because of a leasehold or other property interest shared with another. This is particularly true where the police are aware that the person objecting is the one whose constitutional rights are at stake.
(Citation omitted.) Id. at 562-563.
The viability of the Florida court’s conclusion, however, is drawn into serious question for two reasons. First, the Florida court misstates the facts of Matlock, supra, and purports that the defendant in that case was absent when consent was requested from his cohabitant to search. That, of course, was simply not the case. Second, in reaching its conclusion, the Florida court relies exclusively on cases pre-dating the decision in Matlock, all of which are, themselves, of questionable authority in light of the Matlock opinion. In essence, the entirety of Silva’s analysis directly relies on outdated precedent.
The majority also cites In the Matter of the Welfare of D. A. G.65 to support its proposition. In that case, however, the court specifically noted: “We do not . . . decide what the result would be where both consenting and non-consenting joint occupants are present when the police request permission to search a premises.” Id. at 790. Therefore, D. A. G. has no application here.
*420Finally, contrary to the majority, our charge is to follow the United States Supreme Court on federal constitutional issues, not expand such holdings. We must apply the law as it actually stands, not the law as we aspire it to be. Where either the Georgia constitutional or statutory law provides greater protection for Georgia citizens than does the Federal Constitution, the greater protection will be enforced. There is no such greater protection provided under Georgia law in this case.
Turning to the case now before us, the material facts are not in dispute. On July 6, 2001, Scott Randolph and his wife, Janet, were living together in their marital home. That morning, Janet called police to report a domestic disturbance, and, when officers responded to her home, she told them that Scott had absconded with their child. She also complained that her husband had been causing marital and financial problems by abusing cocaine. A few minutes later, Scott returned home and told the officers that he was afraid that Janet was going to take their child away with her to her family in Canada. Scott stated that, for that reason, he had taken his child to a neighbor’s home.
The officers then retrieved the Randolphs’ child and returned to the marital home. Janet repeated her complaints about her husband’s cocaine use, and one of the police officers confronted Scott about her accusations. The police officer asked Scott if he could search the premises, and Scott refused to consent. The police officer then asked Janet if he could search, and she consented. Janet then personally led the police officer into the marital bedroom where he discovered a piece of a drinking straw coated with cocaine residue. The police officer then left the residence to retrieve an evidence bag from his vehicle. When he returned, Janet, after a discussion with her husband, decided to withdraw her consent to search. The police officer collected the contraband he had seen earlier and escorted Scott and Janet to the police station. The police officer subsequently obtained a warrant to further search the home. During the later search, approximately 25 additional drug-related items were seized.
Later, Scott Randolph filed a motion to suppress the evidence discovered in his home, contending that, because he had refused to consent to a search, his Fourth Amendment right to privacy had been violated when police officers searched his home based on the consent of his wife. Scott further argued that all drug-related items found in the second search of his home were “fruits of the poisonous tree.” The trial court denied the motion to suppress, and Scott Randolph now appeals this ruling.
The only question in this case, just as in Matlock, supra, is whether Scott’s wife was “a third party who possessed common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or *421effects sought to be inspected.” Id. at 171. Here, that question must be answered affirmatively. Janet shared full dominion over the marital household with her husband and the bedroom in which the contraband was discovered. Accordingly, Scott clearly assumed the risk that his wife would consent to the search of the home, and, as such, his Fourth Amendment rights to privacy were not violated when his wife gave such consent.
Decided December 1, 2003
Collier & Gamble, Wilbur T. Gamble III, for appellant.
Cecilia M. Cooper, District Attorney, Richard E. Thomas, for appellee.
Thus, for the reasons set forth above, I believe that the trial court properly denied Scott Randolph’s motion to suppress, and I therefore dissent.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Andrews joins in this dissent.

 United States v. Matlock, 415 U. S. 164 (94 SC 988, 39 LE2d 242) (1974).

 Lenz v. Winburn, 51 F3d 1540, 1548 (11th Cir. 1995).

 Michigan v. Long, 463 U. S. 1032 (103 SC 3469, 77 LE2d 1201) (1983).

 Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U. S. 33, 37 (117 SC 417, 136 LE2d 347) (1996).

 United, States v. Morning, 64 F3d 531, 536 (B) (9th Cir. 1995).

 United States v. Flores, 172 F3d 695, 698 (A) (9th Cir. 1999).

 Amos v. United States, 255 U. S. 313, 317 (41 SC 266, 65 LE 654) (1921).

 Frazier v. Cupp, 394 U. S. 731, 740 (89 SC 1420, 22 LE2d 684) (1969).

 Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U. S. 218 (93 SC 2041, 36 LE2d 854) (1973).

 Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 487-490 (91 SC 2022, 29 LE2d 564) (1971).

 United States v. Sumlin, 567 F2d 684, 687 (6th Cir. 1977), cert. denied, 435 U. S. 932 (98 SC 1507, 55 LE2d 529) (1978).

 J. L. Foti Constr. Co. v. Donovan, 786 F2d 714 (6th Cir. 1986).

 People v. Cosme, 48 N.Y.2d 286 (397 NE2d 1319) (1979).

 United States v. Solimine, 536 F2d 703, 707-708 (6th Cir. 1976), vacated on other grounds, 429 U. S. 990 (97 SC 517, 50 LE2d 603) (1976), reaff’d as modified, 551 F2d 124 (6th Cir. 1977).

 United States v. Canada, 527 F2d 1374, 1379 (9th Cir. 1975), cert. denied, 429 U. S. 867 (97 SC 177, 50 LE2d 147) (1976).

 Kirvelaitis v. Gray, 513 F2d 213, 215 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U. S. 855 (96 SC 103, 46 LE2d 80) (1975).

 United States v. Donlin, 982 F2d 31, 33 (1st Cir. 1992).

 United States v. Childs, 944 F2d 491, 495 (9th Cir. 1991).

 Donovan v. A. A. Beiro Constr. Co., 746 F2d 894, 899, n. 4 (D.C. Cir. 1984).

 United States v. Baldwin, 644 F2d 381, 383 (5th Cir. 1981).

 United States v. Bethea, 598 F2d 331, 335 (4th Cir.), cert. denied, 444 U. S. 860 (100 SC 124, 62 LE2d 81) (1979).

 United States v. Shelton, 337 F3d 529, 537 (5th Cir. 2003).

 See, e.g., Donlin, supra; Bethea, supra; Baldwin, supra; Sumlin, supra; Childs, supra; United States v. Rith, 164 F3d 1323 (10th Cir. 1999); Lenz, supra; Donovan, supra. It does not appear that this question has been directly faced in any of the remaining circuits.

 Montero v. State, 245 Ga. App. 181 (537 SE2d 429) (2000).

 People v. Jackson, 170 Misc.2d 478 (649 NYS2d 334) (Crim. Ct. 1996).

 State a Leach, 113 Wash.2d 735 (782 P2d 1035) (1989).

 Silva v. State, 344 S2d 559 (Fla. 1977).

 In the Matter of the Welfare of D. A. G., 484 NW2d 787 (Minn. 1992).