“The opinion protects Michigan citizens and visitors against unreasonable police searches,” said Michael Faraone, the Lansing-based attorney for the passenger whose case sparked the decision. “It is a change in Michigan law. State and local police will need to be retrained on what is allowed.”
On Monday, the court ruled in favor of a passenger, Larry Mead, who claimed his rights were violated when police in Jackson County searched his backpack in May 2014 without his consent.
A sheriff’s deputy had stopped the car he was riding in with an expired plate driven by a woman Mead had met earlier that night. The driver was giving him a lift, the ruling said.
The deputy looked in Mead’s backpack after the driver consented to a search of her car. The backpack held marijuana and methamphetamine.
Mead eventually was arrested, convicted as a fourth-offense habitual offender and sentenced to serve two to 10 years in prison.
In its unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court said the search was unconstitutional.
“…A passenger’s personal property is not subsumed by the vehicle that carries it for Fourth Amendment purposes,” the ruling stated, referring to the amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. “…A person can get in a car without leaving his Fourth Amendment rights at the curb.”
The decision overruled the court’s previous 2007 decision that stopped passengers from challenging a search of a car in which they were traveling.
Chief Justice Bridget McCormack noted Mead had “a legitimate expectation of privacy in his backpack that society is willing to recognize as reasonable,” which are key in invoking the Fourth Amendment’s protections, and said police can’t search a passenger based on consent from a driver.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/27/ruling-mich-police-cant-search-passengers-stops-without-consent/3592350002/
On Monday, the court ruled in favor of a passenger, Larry Mead, who claimed his rights were violated when police in Jackson County searched his backpack in May 2014 without his consent.
A sheriff’s deputy had stopped the car he was riding in with an expired plate driven by a woman Mead had met earlier that night. The driver was giving him a lift, the ruling said.
The deputy looked in Mead’s backpack after the driver consented to a search of her car. The backpack held marijuana and methamphetamine.
Mead eventually was arrested, convicted as a fourth-offense habitual offender and sentenced to serve two to 10 years in prison.
In its unanimous decision, the state Supreme Court said the search was unconstitutional.
“…A passenger’s personal property is not subsumed by the vehicle that carries it for Fourth Amendment purposes,” the ruling stated, referring to the amendment that protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. “…A person can get in a car without leaving his Fourth Amendment rights at the curb.”
The decision overruled the court’s previous 2007 decision that stopped passengers from challenging a search of a car in which they were traveling.
Chief Justice Bridget McCormack noted Mead had “a legitimate expectation of privacy in his backpack that society is willing to recognize as reasonable,” which are key in invoking the Fourth Amendment’s protections, and said police can’t search a passenger based on consent from a driver.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/04/27/ruling-mich-police-cant-search-passengers-stops-without-consent/3592350002/
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