United States v. Benito Mojica
863 F.3d 727, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12662, 2017 WL 2991743 (2017)
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Rule of Law:
A spouse is presumed to have apparent authority to consent to a search of all areas of the marital homestead, and this presumption is not rebutted merely by the fact that the consenting spouse does not possess a key or uses the area infrequently, so long as there is no evidence that they were affirmatively denied access.
Facts:
- Benito Mojica was a regular customer of a large-scale cocaine-trafficking organization run by Jose de Jesus Ramirez-Padilla ('Gallo').
- In May 2012, after being robbed, Gallo sought a new location to store drugs and money.
- Mojica agreed to rent the second-floor apartment of his two-story residence to Gallo's brothers for use as a drug 'stash house'.
- Mojica lived on the first floor of the residence with his wife of 21 years, Sonia Mojica; they co-owned the property.
- The property included a detached garage, and Benito Mojica possessed the only keys to it.
- When questioned by federal agents, Sonia Mojica stated she rarely went into the garage and had not been inside for a month and a half.
- Sonia Mojica never told the agents that she was denied access to the garage, and she provided both oral and written consent for the search after agents obtained the keys from her husband.
Procedural Posture:
- A grand jury returned a superseding indictment charging Benito Mojica with conspiracy and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.
- Mojica filed a motion in the U.S. District Court to suppress evidence found in the garage, arguing his wife lacked the authority to consent to the search.
- The district court held a hearing and denied the motion to suppress, concluding the wife had both actual and apparent authority.
- Following a trial, a jury convicted Mojica on all counts.
- The district court sentenced Mojica to 121 months in prison.
- Mojica appealed his conviction and sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, arguing the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress.
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Issue:
Does a warrantless search of a detached garage based on a spouse's consent violate the Fourth Amendment when the spouse does not possess a key and rarely enters the garage, but there is no evidence that she was affirmatively denied access?
Opinions:
Majority - Bauer, J.
No. The search does not violate the Fourth Amendment because a spouse has apparent authority to consent to a search of the entire marital homestead unless that authority is explicitly rebutted. Apparent authority exists if the facts available to an officer would lead a person of reasonable caution to believe the consenting party had authority over the property. The court relied on the established presumption that a spouse has authority to consent to a search of all areas of the homestead. Mojica failed to rebut this presumption. Sonia Mojica's lack of a key and infrequent use of the garage were insufficient to overcome the presumption because there was no evidence she was ever denied access. An officer could reasonably believe she had the right to access the garage but simply chose not to use it regularly. Therefore, the agents reasonably relied on her consent, making the warrantless search valid under the Fourth Amendment.
Analysis:
This decision reinforces the strong presumption of a spouse's common authority over the marital homestead for Fourth Amendment consent purposes. It clarifies that to defeat this presumption, a defendant must show more than just exclusive control over an area (like holding the only key) or infrequent use by the other spouse. The defendant must provide evidence that the consenting spouse was affirmatively and explicitly denied access. This ruling sets a high bar for challenging spousal consent and provides law enforcement with a clearer standard for relying on such consent when searching shared property.
