Roommate

[JustinP]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Pennsylvania

Ok so here is the situation. I am living in a house, owned by my parents, for school. One of our roommates have been less than compliant with rules and is just a hassle anytime he calls. My parents are trying to get her out of the house (he also has signed off her lease) but as of late he has been acting immature again trying to fight it saying he'll hire a lawyer for I'm not sure what. He found my pipe downstairs where I live and took pictures of it and may have pictures of my weed, probably about a gram. The pipe was in plain site on my table in my living room but him lease does not permit him to go in there, only to use the washer/dryer that is downstairs. I am wondering if this is some invasion of privacy or something because first, I did not and could not give him consent because I was sleeping when he came down and second, the lease does not permit him to go into my living room. Also if this would have anything to do with trying to get him out of the house, could this evidence be used against me for any reason?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[swalsh411]

No that doesn't help evict this person any faster. That is your parent's issue anyway as it's their house.

Stop leaving your illegal drugs out in the open.

 

[lawbird]

As noted above you can start by "not leaving your illegal drugs out in the open" as it will prevent alot of future headaches.

I will address the illegal search issue presented in your post and leave the landlord issue to other members of this forum to address if they choose to.

If you are worried about potential drug charges resulting in your roommates search of the premises you can either A.) consult an attorney or B.) you can begin reading a line of cases probably starting with United States v. Matlock http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Matlock

This will give you a clearer idea regarding the legality of the search by your roommate and should lead you to some 3rd circuit opinion regarding similar issues presented in Matlock. Also, depending on what part of Pennsylvania you are from you can search some of the district court decisions as well as the Atlantic reporter/Pa. Supreme court to get a feel of where Pennsyvania is at regarding the 4th amendment. You might also want to do a google search of something called the exclusionary rule. I hope this somewhat helps you.

 

[swalsh411]

What the bleep are you talking about lawbird? The roomate is not a law enforcement officer. Nothing you posted has any relevance to the OP's question.

 

[lawbird]

Maybe Matlock isn't relevant but it was the first thing that came to mind. If OP's roommate confiscated or took pictures or did whatever he/she did to the marijuana pipe and marijuana that was in P.V. and turned said evidence/pictures over to law enforcement perhaps that would be enough to get a warrant and conduct a search of OP's house. I understand Swalsh The roommate isn't law enforcement nor was she acting as an agent of the police, but the way I read OP's post is that he's worried if the third party search conducted by the roommate will come back and haunt him. I was just attempting to answer that in the affirmative. Yes, a third party search does not implicate fourth amendment violations but it does give police the evidence they need to seek a warrant. I believe there are some better cases of the top of my head out of the 5th circuit that come to mind dealing with roommates conducting searches and other third party searches. U.S. v. Paige is a case where workers observed marijuana in an attic. Another one dealt with a ex wife breaking into the home of her husband to get some of her things and observed child porn in plain view. In that case the individual was indicted based on a third party search.

Perhaps I'm off base on this one so I apologize to JustinP for any confusion I may have caused.

 

[JustinP]

I understand the third party giving consent to search when one party is not present, but I am basically asking about these pictures on his phone that he supposedly has. If we do get him out, he seems like one who would like to take revenge on someone so being the landlords son I am wondering whether or not he can use these photo's possibly for something against the lease or future drug charges.

 

[quincy]

I understand the third party giving consent to search when one party is not present, but I am basically asking about these pictures on his phone that he supposedly has. If we do get him out, he seems like one who would like to take revenge on someone so being the landlords son I am wondering whether or not he can use these photo's possibly for something against the lease or future drug charges.

Unless you personalized the weed and/or pipe, what your roommate has on his phone are just pictures of drugs and drug paraphernalia.

The roommate could at any time, however, report you to the police or to your parents (I am not sure which would be worse ) and say what he saw and then photographed.

Given the circumstances, acting against your roommate on any privacy issue seems unwise. If you can put a lock on your door, that might help keep the roommate from wandering into your space.