Fourth Amendment: Criminal Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

Criminal Law

Fourth Amendment

Case updates with news and views on the law of search and seizure and arrest and detention, including the Fourth Amendment and state law.
By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Post Frequency: 41.7/day

Last Entry: April 01, 2011 at 08:26:14

Paper on the demise of the exclusionary rule

Posted on April 06, 2009
From the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy is this interesting paper: The Roberts Court and the Future of the Exclusionary Rule by Susan A. Bandes: The Reagan-era Justice Department, led by Attorney General Edwin Meese, spearheaded the first frontal attack on the exclusionary rule...

WA: Littering arrest justified SI

Posted on April 04, 2009
A motion to strike is not the proper method of challenging admission of evidence that should be the subject of a motion to suppress. Arrington v. Commonwealth, 2009 Va. App. LEXIS 146 (March 31, 2009). An officer in an unmarked car was tailing the defendant for suspicion of meth trafficking...

CA11: Rule 4 governs federal arrest, not state law

Posted on April 03, 2009
Fed. R. Crim. P. 4(c)(3)(A), not state law, controlled as to the arrest, and the officer did not have to have the arrest warrant in hand or nearby. The finding that the officer's testimony of a clerical error on the return of service of the search warrant was credible was entitled to deference and a clerical error did not invalidate the search...

CA1: No REP in a washing machine in a common area

Posted on April 03, 2009
Defendant had a subjective expectation of privacy in a gun hidden in a washing machine on the second floor landing 7' feet from where he was found, but it was not an expectation that was reasonable. United States v. Rheault, 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 6484 (1st Cir...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

E.D. Pa. permits strip search class action to proceed against private jail

Posted on April 02, 2009
Defendant's blanket assertions, without backup from the witness, that the woman in control of the premises where he allegedly stayed retrieved his gun under coercion by the police was insufficient to show that consent was not valid or he had standing in the first place...

ID: Blocking door with foot was crossing the threshold for Fourth Amendment purposes

Posted on April 02, 2009
Defense counsel were not ineffective for not filing a motion to suppress defendant's search by a security guard who was not a state actor. [Defendant was operating under advice from a jailhouse lawyer that the issue was viable.] State v. Butler, 2009 Wisc...

MD: No REP in jail non-privileged mail

Posted on April 01, 2009
Officer observed defendant on a store parking lot, probably engaging in drug transactions, and followed him as he left, speeding. He pulled the defendant over, and defendant got out of the car and obviously had something in his mouth. That, too, was reasonable suspicion...

Automobile exception applied even though car was locked and keys were in defendant's pocket at jail

Posted on April 01, 2009
The defendant's car was subject to the automobile exception even though it was locked, he was in custody, and he had the only key. Coolidge did not apply because it did not involve normal exigency. United States v. Dallas, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24600 (E...

CNN.com: "Applying for jobless benefits? Here, pee in a cup"

Posted on April 01, 2009
A West Virginia lawmaker wants the unemployed to submit to UAs to get unemployment benefits, and he has proposed a bill requiring it. See CNN.com Applying for jobless benefits? Here, pee in a cup.

ABAJ: "Who's Policing the Fourth Amendment?"

Posted on April 01, 2009
On ABAJournal.com: Who?s Policing the Fourth Amendment? Two cases push the unevenly enforced exclusionary rule closer to repeal, by David G. Savage.

M.D. Fla.: Defendant has to be present and have objected to invoke Randolph

Posted on March 31, 2009
Defendant's consent was voluntary even though she was handcuffed. The initial tension of the arrest had dissipated, and the situation was calmer by the time of the consent. United States v. Merritt, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24227 (S.D. W.Va. March 24, 2009)...

M.D. Fla.: DEA violated curtilage to get consent found involuntary

Posted on March 31, 2009
M.D. Fla. suppresses a knock-and-talk where the police entered defendant's fenced off property to knock at the door and seek consent in violation of his expectation of privacy shown under Dunn. Under the circumstances of this case, the defendant's consent was not voluntary after the knock-and-talk...

N.D.N.Y.: PV warrant authorized entry into third party's property where he would be found

Posted on March 30, 2009
The officers had reasonable suspicion to believe that the defendants were engaged in drug smuggling into the Virgin Islands. The court agrees that each act individually did not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion, but collectively (as under Arvizu) they did...

GA: Police could photograph area where they were admitted by consent even though consent to search was denied

Posted on March 30, 2009
Defendants' consent came after the basis for the stop had been completed but they were not permitted to leave. Trial court's grant of motion to suppress affirmed. State v. Felton, 2009 Ga. App. LEXIS 347 (March 26, 2009).* Police entered by consent but consent to search was denied...

N.D. Cal.: A nitpicking Franks challenge failed

Posted on March 29, 2009
Defendant failed in a nitpicking Franks challenge. The affiant is not required to make every conceivable explanation of the facts and circumstances. Informant's alleged false statement to the police was not subject to Franks, even if the defense could prove it...

S.D.Tex.: "Mere evidence" that was potential 404(b) evidence could be seized under SW

Posted on March 29, 2009
Prosecutor who used a search warrant to aid the defense of a habeas corpus was not entitled to absolute immunity. Auguste v. Sullivan, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23526 (D. Colo. March 26, 2009)*: It is clear that the facts of this case are a significant step removed from the framework laid out in Imbler and its progeny...

OH7: Search incident of purse after handcuffing valid

Posted on March 28, 2009
Probable cause was shown, but even if it wasn't, it was close enough for the good faith exception to apply. United States v. Garcia, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23192 (E.D. Wash. March 10, 2009): Moreover, even if the search warrant lacked probable cause, the officers executing the search warrant were entitled to rely, in good faith, on the search warrant...

GPS planted on car corroborated CI

Posted on March 27, 2009
Stop of defendant's vehicle was with probable cause. The CI told the officer that defendant drove from Washington to California twice a month to pickup meth and he was leaving October 17th. On the night of October 16th, the officer placed a GPS device on his car, and the readings from the GPS corroborated the informant...

Video shows defendant consented

Posted on March 26, 2009
Defendant's consent was valid, and his claim that the officers altered the video of the stop is rejected. "Ramirez claims that all of the officers are lying. The video belies Ramirez's claims. The video shows clearly that Ramirez confirmed that he had given his consent to the search...

NY GPS case in the press

Posted on March 25, 2009
The Albany Times-Union has articles about the GPS case, previously noted here, from the day of the argument and from today: NY court hears arguments on police use of GPS. It sounds like a spirited argument: At the center of discussion was the case of Scott Weaver, whose conviction in a Christmas Eve 2005 break-in was aided by a GPS device that state police secretly attached to his van for 65 days...

NYTimes on Safford strip search case argued April 21

Posted on March 24, 2009
The NY Times has an article today about Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding, SCOTUS Wiki here, set for oral argument April 21. Questions presented: 1. Whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits public school officials from conducting a search of a student suspected of possessing and distributing a prescription drug on campus in violation of school policy...

GA: Stop of vehicle officers were looking for that was moving suspiciously and had wrong tag was valid and continued with RS

Posted on March 24, 2009
Officers were on the lookout for a car like defendants, and he was seen driving in a suspicious manner, potentially the vehicle version of Terry's walking around the jewelry store. It turned out the vehicle had the tag to another vehicle on it. The stop and continued stop, including two consent searches (the first producing nothing), were valid...

UT: Failure to record telephonic warrant application required suppression

Posted on March 23, 2009
A Utah telephonic warrant was not recorded, and there was no record of its issuance. This violated the state requirement that warrant applications be preserved, which the court determines is a mandate to enable challenges to the warrant process. In Anderson v...

Warrantless GPS monitoring of cars without time limits argued Tuesday

Posted on March 23, 2009
People v. Weaver is being argued Tuesday afternoon in the New York Court of Appeals argues that warrantless GPS monitoring of a vehicle violates the New York Constitution because there is no temporal or spatial limitation on monitoring. ?By its nature, GPS is a valuable tool because it permits long-term, sustained surveillance...

OH8: Officer was permitted to retrieve shirt from bedroom for arrested defendant, so drug paraphernalia was in plain view

Posted on March 22, 2009
Officers were in defendant's house with an arrest warrant, and he permitted them to go to a bedroom to get a shirt to go to jail in, and drug paraphernalia were in plain view. State v. Hanson, 2009 Ohio 1243, 2009 Ohio App. LEXIS 1047 (8th Dist. March 19, 2009) [This is remarkably like Chrisman...

MA: Nexus to drug dealer having drugs at home not shown where drugs were delivered by car

Posted on March 21, 2009
State failed to show nexus between defendant's drug dealing activities and his house. He was once seen leaving the house three days earlier to get in his car to go to a drop, and that was it. Commonwealth v. Pina, 2009 Mass. LEXIS 43 (March 19, 2009): It is generally true that the connection between the items to be seized and the place to be searched does not have to be based on direct observation...

W.D. Tex.: Ruse photograph to get permission to enter to look for person is not free consent

Posted on March 21, 2009
ICE use of a ruse photograph to get permission to enter home to look for the person in the ruse when they are really looking for somebody they hope will be there is not free consent. United States v. Hernandez-Juarez, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22031 (W.D...

OH10: Fist bump in high crime area was reasonable suspicion

Posted on March 20, 2009
Defendant was asked for consent to search his car, and he said "That'd be fine if you have a key." The defendant did not have a key, and he said that his girlfriend had the key, but she was not around. The officer found a key on the ground and searched the car...

GA: Person whose property was to be searched by third party consent was entitled to know it before search starts

Posted on March 20, 2009
Defendant's live-in girlfriend complained to the police about him and his drugs, and she signed a consent to search their shared property. When the police arrived at the house, they arrested defendant on an outstanding traffic warrant and searched the house without her present and without telling him what they were doing...

AR: Search warrant for house did not need to itemize safe in the house

Posted on March 20, 2009
A search warrant for a house does not have to list a safe found in the house as a thing or place to be searched if the things sought could be secreted in the safe. State v. Stites, CR08-1186 (Ark. March 19, 2009) [Actually, how often will the police know that there is a safe inside?) Officers received an anonymous call that defendant was engaged in a grow operation in his house, and they sufficiently corroborated it by a trash pull to get a search warrant...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

SCOTUS Eminent Domain: 5th Amendment and fighting government retaliation in Wilkie v. Robbins
It’s hard to imagine what else property rights might mean, o...

Eminent Domain, Fifth Amendment Property Rights, and Government Retaliation
On June 25, 2007, the Supreme Court of the United States dec...

British Employment Discrimination Amendment About To Become Effective
An amendment to the definition of "religion or belief" in Britain'...

Equal Rights Amendment
Federal and state lawmakers have launched a new drive to pass the ...