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RESEARCH
Officers suspected the defendant had committed a robbery and was presently located in a hotel room. They went to the hotel. The officers had neither search nor arrest warrants. They obtained the consent of the hotel clerk to enter and search the defendantโs room. After doing so, they located evidence of the defendantโs participation in the robbery.
Whether the hotel clerk had the authority to grant consent to search the defendantโs hotel room?
No. The clerk did not have the authority to waive the defendantโs constitutional protection of the Fourth Amendment.
The Court held that it was important to remember it was the defendantโs constitutional right which was at stake here, not the night clerkโs nor the hotelโs. It was a right, therefore, which only Stoner could waive by word or deed, either directly or through an agent. While the night clerk clearly and unambiguously consented to the search, there was nothing to indicate the government had any basis to believe that Stoner authorized the night clerk to allow the officers to search his room.
376 U.S. 483, 84 S. Ct. 889 (1964)
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