(D) is correct.

Issue: Whether one has standing to object to the warrantless search of his room and locked
trunk within another’s home.

Rule: The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from unreasonable
searches and seizures by the government. Importantly, the Fourth Amendment only protects
against government action. Thus to conduct a valid search, a warrant based on probable cause
must be issued unless the search falls within an exception to the warrant requirement. One
exception to the warrant requirement is consent. A warrantless search is permissible if the
defendant gives voluntary and intelligent consent. The voluntariness of consent is determined
from the totality of the circumstances. Any individual with a right to use or occupy the premises
may consent to a search, but only to that portion of the premises controlled (alone or equally with
others) or occupied. If a present occupant refuses permission for a search, a co-occupant (of a
jointly-controlled area) cannot consent to the search.

To assert that one’s constitutional rights have been violated under the Fourth Amendment
because the police conducted an unlawful search or seizure, that person must have “standing.”
Standing means that an individual must have a privacy interest (reasonable expectation of
privacy) in the area being searched or the item being seized.

Analysis: Here, there is a question of standing to object (the artist) and a question of whether
consent was properly given by the mother. The mother, as the owner of the home has standing to
consent or object to the search of her home. However, she did not have authority to consent to
the search of the locked trunk since she did not have the right to use or control the trunk. To
challenge the search of the trunk, the artist must have standing to object – because the artist
owned the locked trunk and had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the trunk, he had standing
to object to the warrantless search of the trunk.

(D) is correct because the search was improper and the artist has standing to object to the
search. The mother did not have authority to consent to the search of the trunk (and regardless,
she did not consent), and no other exception to the warrant requirement was applicable to these
circumstances.

(A) is incorrect because the mother did not give consent to open the trunk, and she likely did
not have authority to consent to open the trunk regardless since she did not own it and did not
have permission to use it.

(B) is incorrect because the mother told them not to open the trunk and did not have the
authority under these facts to give consent regardless since she did not use or control the trunk.

(C) is incorrect because the mother had authority to consent to the police searching her home,
including the room.