mere submission to a claim of lawful authority
Imagine you are stopped off to the side of North Dixie Drive in Dayton, Ohio. A Montgomery County Deputy Sheriff stands outside your driver-side door. His cruiser is behind your car with those flashing lights. A second Deputy stands behind your stopped vehicle. The Deputy at your door already checked your license and ran a check on you after he stopped you for a traffic violation. You came back clean. He already decided he was going to give you a warning this time. Now he asks, "mind if I search your vehicle?" Oops, you say "okay" and he finds your cocaine. Do you win your motion to suppress the cocaine in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court?
You do if the State failed to meet its burden of showing that your consent to the search was voluntarily given and not just a "mere submission to a claim of lawful authority." Judge Michael T. Hall determined the "consent" was a mere submission to the authority of the Montgomery County Sheriff Deputies. And the Second District Court of Appeals would not reverse that decision as you can read here.
