Consent Search - Other Parties

Other Parties

The person conducting the consent search does not necessarily have to be identified as a law enforcement officer, and the person granting consent need not be the person police suspect or ultimately charge.

In cases such as Lee v. United States, Lopez v. United States, and Hoffa v. United States, the courts have ruled that evidence found in searches based on consent obtained by an undercover officer or as an informer to be admissible.

And a third party can in some limited cases grant consent. The person needs to possess or be believed by the searching officer to possess “common authority over or other sufficient relationship to the premises or effects sought to be inspected.”