State v. Bartram

OPINION

ANDERSON, Justice.

We granted this appeal to re-exámine this Court’s adoption of the so-called “angry wife” exception to the rule that a warrantless search and seizure is presumed unreasonable unless there is a valid consent to the search. Fifty years ago, in Kelley v. State 1 this Court viewed the marital relationship as an agency relationship between the husband and wife and, therefore, reasoned that the consent of the wife would bind the husband unless the consenting wife’s actions were hostile and adverse to her husband’s interest.

The trial court, relying on the Kelley precedent,…