State v. Cantrell

Facts of Case

The question presented in this case is whether a police officer must obtain the consent of both the passenger and the driver, where both have approximately equal control of an automobile, before using consent as a basis for a warrantless search of the vehicle.

In our order accepting review of this case, we limited, review to "the issue whether the search of the automobile that respondent was driving can be justified by his passenger’s consent.” Our sole reason for granting review was to determine whether the rule announced in State v. Leach, 113 Wn.2d 735, 782 P.2d 1035 (1989)…