Summary of Bumper v. North Carolina, Supreme Court of United States (1968)

Petitioner/Defendant: Bumper; the defendant was a black man who was accused of rape. The defendant lived with his grandmother and two days after the alleged crime, four officers came to defendant’s house. One of the officer told the grandmother that they had a search warrant to searc the house and the grandmother said “Go ahead”. But in fact, the officers did not have a search warrant. The officers found a gun in the house which was later used as evidence and the defendant was sentenced to life in prison. The prosecutor during the appeal argued that the grandmother had given her consent to the officers and the Supreme Court of North Carolina affirmed the conviction.

Issue: Was the consent of grandmother voluntary?

Holding: No

Legal Reasoning: The court stated that after the officers told the grandmother that they had a warrant, the grandmother felt that she had no right to resist the search. The court reasoned that this situation was “coercion- albeit colorably lawful coercion.” So the court ruled that the grandmother’s consent was not voluntary and the weapon was illegaly obtained in the house. The court remanded the case and reversed the ruling of the lower court.