Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

my parents left on a vacation and asked me and my boyfriend to housesit/ pet sit. I had to run across the street to the grocery store and left my boyfriend alone for what was a short time of mabe 20 mins. IN this time he took our pet puppy out side to the backyard to use the bathroom, so the puppy wouldnt go inside the house. The nieghbor saw him outside with the puppy and thought he looked suspicious because they didnt reconize him. After the puppy had done his business, my boyfriend went back inside to take a shower.while in the shower he herd a knock at the front door answered it, and the sherriffs were there, on a call about a suspicious man in our backyard. My boyfriend who is on active parolle had to comply with officers and get searched. But he is property of the state, not me, or my parents home. they entered into our residance with no justifiable cause and proceeded to tear up our house. This all while i was at the grocery store. My boyfriend's adress is not registerd to my parents home so why didn't they call him outside the residance and search and detain him? and at the very least wait till i returned for permission to enter the residance? When i arrived they had already torn our house apart, is this an illeagle search?


Asked on 8/22/09, 1:35 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Robert Marshall Law Office of Robert L, Marshall

A parolee must submit his residence, or any other property under his control, to a search.

You left him alone in your home. Even if he did not live there permanently, he was the sole occupant of the house, so it was under his control. If you had been personally present when the police arrived and objected to the search, the situation may have been different.

(People who are not on probation or parole are free to refuse to allow the police to search their person, home or property without a warrant. However, you should never physically resist a search.)

Parolees often move without telling their parole officers, or live at more than one residence. If your boyfriend was fresh out of the shower and informed the officers that he was staying at the home for an extended period of time while your parents were on vacation, it would be reasonable for them to consider your parents' home his residence.

When you live with someone on probation or parole, you lose some of your expectation of privacy. The police can search any common area to which the person has access.

If the search was conducted in an unreasonable manner, the search may have been illegal... for example, if they broke things or ripped holes in walls. Otherwise, it was probably justified.

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Answered on 8/22/09, 2:27 pm


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