State v. Christian Allis, 178 A.3d 993

On Oct. 5, 2015, St. Albans police investigated a single-vehicle crash and identified Christian Allis as the vehicle owner.
Officers went to Allis’s residence; the girlfriend answered, said she would get Allis, closed the door briefly, then called him down to the kitchen.
She reopened the door, motioned saying “he’s right here,” and walked up to the kitchen; officers questioned Allis from the doorway and then entered the house; Allis appeared intoxicated and was arrested.
Allis moved to suppress evidence obtained after officers entered the home, arguing the officers lacked consent to enter and that any consent was involuntary.
The trial court found the girlfriend implicitly invited officers in; the court also included a finding (unsupported by testimony) that the officer interpreted her action as an invitation.
The Vermont Supreme Court reviewed the record, found key trial-court findings clearly erroneous, concluded the State failed to prove implied consent to enter, and reversed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Allis)	Held
Whether officers lawfully entered the home without an explicit request to enter	The girlfriend implicitly invited officers in by opening the door, gesturing and going to the kitchen	Entry was without consent; no request to enter and no explicit consent given	Reversed: State failed to prove implied consent to enter
Whether consent to enter may be implied from conduct	Implied consent may arise from conduct a reasonable person would understand as consent	Police must request and receive explicit permission to enter (argues for stricter rule)	Court applied objective reasonable-person test for implied consent but found girlfriend’s conduct insufficient as a matter of law
Which party bears burden to prove consent was voluntary	N/A (State must show consent)	N/A	State bears burden; court did not reach voluntariness because no valid consent was shown
Standard of review on appeal of suppression ruling	Defer to trial-court fact findings unless clearly erroneous; legal conclusion reviewed de novo	Same; Allis argues trial court erred in finding consent	Court applied clearly erroneous review to facts, de novo to mixed question and concluded evidence did not support consent

State v. Lawrence, 175 Vt. 600 (explains appellate standard: factual findings clearly erroneous; legal questions reviewed de novo)
State v. Stevens, 176 Vt. 613 (consent may be implied from conduct a reasonable person would understand as conveying consent)
Harris v. Carbonneau, 165 Vt. 433 (gesture and stepping aside can support implied consent to enter)
State v. Zaccaro, 154 Vt. 83 (searches lawful only with warrant/probable cause or voluntary consent)
State v. Sprague, 175 Vt. 123 (State bears burden to demonstrate consent was freely given)
Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218 (voluntariness of consent governed by totality of circumstances)
Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543 (prosecutor must prove consent was freely and voluntarily given)
Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491 (State bears burden where legality of search rests on consent)