Quote:
Originally posted by madmax
Actually she probably doesn't have the right to search the houses. If the homes are on private property the police need one of the following to perfrom a search :
1. search warrant
2. permission from occupant
3. reasonable cause.
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The rule is that a search warrant and probable cause are required for a search to be valid. Consent is one of several exceptions to the warrant requirement.
The rule might be different if part of the house is being held open to the public -- like if no one is guarding the door. The Fourth Amendment warrant requirement applies when the person to be searched has a reasonable expectation of privacy from search. There is arguably a reduced expectation of privacy when you hold the house open to the public. I don't know enough about criminal procedure and the Fourth Amendment to know if that's enough to make the evidence legitimate -- I kinda doubt it, but that's just a hunch.
If they're not watching the door, they're bound to have all sorts of problems.
If they are watching the door, they should tell the officer she can come back with a warrant. A fraternity member guarding the door who gives consent for the officer to enter probably gives her access to all common areas in the house that are open for the party. It will also give her access to anything that is in her "plain view" as she walks through the house, even if those things are over the threshold of open doors into private rooms.
Door guards ought to be outside or right at the threshold of the door, not several feet inside.
Even if the evidence is ill-gotten, an illegal search might only protect the fraternity from criminal sanction (and then only if a lawyer can successfully get the evidence excluded from the criminal case). It might not work so well to protect it from campus probation, and it won't work at all to protect it from discipline from its headquarters.
We're not in any areas I've carefully studied here, so maybe someone else could correct me on anything I've gotten wrong. They only teach basics on bar exam preparation courses, not the little nuances that apply to specific weird situations.