did they have the right

What is the name of your state?ca

me and my ex/girlfriend had got in a fight and she called the cops. I was not hear when they arrived and she had called them from a pay phone around the corner from my house. She took them back here and let them in my home as they were in the home they observed some drug paraphenelia and snooped in drawrs etc. I pulled in the drive way and they began to question me on these items using the scare tactics they use i admited to owning them
My question is did she have the right to let them in my home we did not live together and her residence was not even given as here when they questioned her...thus if they have no right to be in home i have no charges??
thanks i am due in court tomorrow

Does she have a key to your place? If she does, that gives her the right to enter the house as she pleases, so if she lets cops into the house it's not exactly unconstitutional. If you had paraphenelia sitting in plain sight for the officers in the house to see, they then had the right to snoop through drawers to find more. If they had to actually snoop through the drawers to begin with to find anything at all, then they had no right to do so, unless your girlfriend told them there was stuff and where it was.

The Occultist said:

Does she have a key to your place? If she does, that gives her the right to enter the house as she pleases, so if she lets cops into the house it's not exactly unconstitutional. If you had paraphenelia sitting in plain sight for the officers in the house to see, they then had the right to snoop through drawers to find more. If they had to actually snoop through the drawers to begin with to find anything at all, then they had no right to do so, unless your girlfriend told them there was stuff and where it was.

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First of all, having a key to the home does not constitute right of entry. Since we don't know the circumstances of her having the key how can you even assume to know the answer?

That being said, the police, knowing she had a key, even if she had no right of entry, can rely on admissible error in the search since they relied on the appearance of her rights based on the key.

As for the drawer search, it is questionable but a matter of fact for a judge to decide.

Get an attorney.

If she let them in the house, then it was reasonable for them to assume she had "apparent authority." The parapernalia did not give them the right to snoop through drawers. It might have given them probable cause to get a warrant to snoop through drawers. Your attorney should look at the police report. Maybe they will say your girlfriend consented to them looking in the drawers, in which case no one will believe her if she denies it.

In my never to be humble opinion, this search and seizure is worthless. The cops had no authority to go in period. Thus, anything found after that is the fruit of the poisonous tree.

seniorjudge said:

In my never to be humble opinion, this search and seizure is worthless. The cops had no authority to go in period. Thus, anything found after that is the fruit of the poisonous tree.

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I have to disagree. The poster nor we know what the girl told the police and if she told them yes, she lived there (even if she was moving out which would explain the differing address on the report) the police has reason to believe she had right to access. Therefore, the search (at least in plain view search) of the place was legal. the drawers not

BelizeBreeze said:

I have to disagree. The poster nor we know what the girl told the police and if she told them yes, she lived there (even if she was moving out which would explain the differing address on the report) the police has reason to believe she had right to access. Therefore, the search (at least in plain view search) of the place was legal. the drawers not

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Obviously, we don't know all the facts so we can just guess.

I think it was damned poor police work, if nothing else. The cops should've secured the place and gotten a warrant. EVERY warrantless search is suspect!

Where is IAAL now that I need him!

BTW, "plain view" has nothing to do with what they see once they are inside the house.

http://www.legal-explanations.com/definitions/plain-view-doctrine.htm

Plain View Doctrine
n. The rule that if evidence of criminal activity exists, or the product of a crime can be seen without entry or search, a law enforcement officer may issue a search and seizure without obtaining a search warrant. For example: if a policeman stops a motorist for a minor traffic violation and a pistol or marijuana plant is in plain view in the back seat, he/she has reasonable cause to enter and search the vehicle. (Emphasis supplied.)