Voluntary Consent Case Study

In the case U.S. v. Guerrero (2007), voluntary consent is put to the test. The textbook writes that suspicion caused two deputies to question Mr. Guerrero and Mr. Torres travel plans. Upon questioning Mr. Guerrero and his uncle, Deputy Rhodd found their stories suspicious. The Deputy then observed Guerrero’s behavior shift from defensive to polite and cooperative. Besides his behavior, the officer noticed the car key was on a single key ring and there was paraphernalia in the gears shift of the vehicle. The deputy also noticed the license plates from California, what he considered a drug source state. Among other observations the officer concluded that their travel plans of working in construction did not tie with the clothing and lack of tools in the vehicle. The deputy asked for identifying documents which he verified. He returned the paperwork and thanked them for their time dismissing Guerrero and Torres. As the deputy walked he turned around and asked Guerrero several new questions. One of them asking for consent to search his vehicle to which Guerrero denied as the car belonged to his

As explained in the textbook, “Hesitation or ambiguity in giving consent could indicate that the consent is not voluntary” (Ferdico, Fradella, & Totten, 2015). Mr. Guerrero initially showed hesitation and uncertainty when giving concent to Deputy Rhodd to search the vehicle. This showing unvoluntary consent to search his girlfriends vehicle. Also, the traffic stop could be considered ended when their documents were returned and thanked them for his service. They were free to leave but were stopped once again and continued to question Mr. Guerrero and Mr. Torres. The simple gesture of extending his hands, palms up may not be considered consent to search. This was no form of written or oral consent leading to believe that a consent to search the vehicle was not given to the