Criminal Law

TN: Anonymous driver's signals about defendant were not reasonable suspicion

Posted on September 28, 2008
?[A] law enforcement officer signaled by an anonymous citizen-driver in a manner obviously intended to invite the officer's intervention as to a third party--but without any indication as to the nature of the citizen's concern or any other information--does not have reasonable suspicion adequate to stop and seize the third party...

Leased premises not abandoned because girlfriend still had legal connection to the premises

Posted on September 28, 2008
The evidence did not support the conclusion that defendant had abandoned leased premises because he was still around at the sufferance of his girlfriend who still had a legal connection to the premises. United States v. Carter, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73737 (N...

Car keys could be seized under Terry in a homicide investigation

Posted on September 27, 2008
Defendant injected himself into a homicide investigation, and the officer's patted him down and found car keys, which they seized. "They acted reasonably in removing the car keys from Defendant's person to prevent him from compromising their investigation...

DUI checkpoint on entrance to military base was valid

Posted on September 27, 2008
DUI checkpoint on entrance to a Georgia Navy base was valid. It was governed by Sitz and not Edmond. "Moreover, despite the lack of signage announcing the inspection, there was a police-type vehicle at the Base's entry with its lights on, and security personnel were wearing brightly colored vests...

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

Driving too slow on a military base is not RS

Posted on September 27, 2008
Defendant's driving too slow at night on a military reservation was not reasonable suspicion. Court's initial conclusion that it was is reversed and the stop suppressed. United States v. Pompa, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72988 (S.D. Ga. September 24, 2008): Again and again courts have recognized that driving well below the speed limit, even late at night, is in and of itself insufficient to furnish reasonable suspicion...

AR: Persons napping in a motel room with no shown relationship to renter had no standing

Posted on September 26, 2008
Defendants' napping in somebody else's motel room without any explanation of their relationship to the renter of the room did not show an expectation of privacy in the motel room. Anderson v. State, 2008 Ark. App. LEXIS 568 (September 10, 2008) (4-2): Examining the facts of this case, the record shows only that appellants were napping during the afternoon in a motel room that was registered to another person and that they had no personal belongings with them in the room...

Being Tasered is a seizure

Posted on September 26, 2008
Being Tasered is a seizure. Wilson v. City of Lafayette, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 72384 (D. Colo. September 10, 2008).* Court finds that defendant's limited understanding of English was not an impediment to his consenting to a search of his vehicle. His actions showed he understood...

Strip search of wrong man with same name as wanted person stated claim

Posted on September 26, 2008
Strip search on arrest of the wrong man with the same name as the man named in a warrant stated a claim for relief because there were enough discrepancies between the identifiers and the person they had before them to put them on notice it was not the same man...

GA: Getting upset when questioned about search is not revoking consent

Posted on September 25, 2008
Defendant's getting upset when being questioned about what was found during a consent search is not a withdrawal of consent. Boone v. State, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 1041 (September 23, 2008).* Landlord could not consent to a search of a trailer rented to a person the police were looking for...

Consent to enter on a knock and talk is not consent to search

Posted on September 25, 2008
A consent to enter during a knock and talk is not a consent to search. United States v. Ellis, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71177 (W.D. La. June 24, 2008). DNA sample was taken from defendant under a ruse that anybody arrested for exposing himself in public needed to give a sample...

W.D. Tex.: Protecting informant justified not unsealing SW materials at request of press

Posted on September 25, 2008
The right of access of the press to search warrant materials was discussed at length by the Western District of Texas at El Paso in United States v. Ketner, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71216 (W.D. Tex. May 28, 2008). In this case, the court finds that protecting the informants was a greater interest and declined to unseal the search warrant materials: This same compelling interest leads the Court to conclude that, although there may be a qualified common law right of access to these affidavits inasmuch as they are judicial records and presumptively open, it should exercise its discretion to maintain them under seal...

Traffic stops may be based on reasonable suspicion

Posted on September 25, 2008
Traffic stops may be based on reasonable suspicion, and dictum in Whren is just that. United States v. Johnson, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71494 n. 4(M.D. Pa. September 17, 2008): In light of language from Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 116 S. Ct. 1769, 135 L...

IL: Direction to driver to roll up windows and turn on fan to facilitate a dog sniff was no unreasonable

Posted on September 24, 2008
During a traffic stop with a drug dog in tow, the officer directed the defendant to close the windows and turn on the air blower to facilitate the dog sniff. This was not unreasonable. People v. Bartelt, 2008 Ill. App. LEXIS 928 (September 4, 2008): The set-up procedure is quick and nonintrusive; thus, it does not impermissibly lengthen the duration of the stop...

IN: Test firing defendant's gun in inventory and sending it to IBIS was not an unreasonable search

Posted on September 23, 2008
Defendant's gun was taken during a 2004 traffic stop and test-fired with the results going into IBIS (Integrated Ballistic Identification System) under a departmental policy of testing all guns in inventory. In 2006, the gun was linked to a murder and then back to the defendant...

UT: Exclusionary rules does not apply to DL suspension proceedings

Posted on September 23, 2008
Exclusionary rule does not apply to driver license suspension proceedings. Beller v. Rolfe, 2008 UT 68, 2008 Utah LEXIS 152 (September 19, 2008).* Anonymous tipster who briefly came forward and then disappeared after defendant's arrest was no more entitled to credibility than as an anonymous informant...

Younger bars injunction in preemptive strike in federal court over state investigation

Posted on September 23, 2008
Preemptive civil suit against a criminal investigation to enjoin it is barred under Younger v. Harris. The defendant was charged with a crime after the suit was brought. Bernegger v. Haney, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70740 (N.D. Miss. September 18, 2008): Certain types of injury, such as the cost, anxiety, and inconvenience of having to defend against as single criminal prosecution, could not by themselves be considered "irreparable" in the special legal sense of the term...

IL: Traffic stops, even with PC, are governed by Terry

Posted on September 23, 2008
A traffic stop, even with PC to believe that a traffic offense occurred, is governed by Terry. People v. Cosby, 2008 Ill. LEXIS 890 (September 18, 2008): Nonetheless, this court and many other courts have analyzed traffic stops under Terry principles, regardless of whether the initial stop was supported by probable cause or reasonable suspicion...

E.D.N.Y.: Money laundering SW did not mention other businesses involved, but recognized that others would be; SW permitted records search of those businesses when they were found

Posted on September 22, 2008
Search warrant in a money laundering case permitted the officers to look at documents involving businesses located on the premises not specifically named in the warrant. The affidavit and warrant contemplated that other businesses would be involved. "Since the warrant does not expressly name the third company involved in the scheme, the agents reasonably inferred that it was permissible to search the records for companies not expressly listed in the warrant, provided that these companies were connected to the alleged MBE fraud...

CA11: Fingerprints can be in plain view for seizure under a search warrant

Posted on September 21, 2008
Search warrant for a boat on a trailer permitting seizure of finger and palm prints in plain view even though they were not mentioned in the warrant. They was probable cause to believe it was evidence of a crime. United States v. Zaldivar, 2008 U.S. App...

Officer pointing loaded gun at head of unarmed suspect would be excessive force

Posted on September 21, 2008
Plaintiff who alleged that she had a loaded gun pointed at her head during an arrest was excessive because she was unarmed was sufficient to state a claim. The law has been established at least since 2002. Hickman v. Marzec, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70256 (D...

VA: Exclusionary rule applies in probation revocation proceedings

Posted on September 21, 2008
Exclusionary rule applies in probation revocation proceedings because of defendant's allegation that the officer acted in bad faith. Logan v. Commonwealth, 2008 Va. LEXIS 92 (September 12, 2008): We conclude that the Court of Appeals' reliance on Scott is misplaced based upon three relevant distinctions between Scott and the present case...

CP raid occurres because impending raid leaked to press

Posted on September 20, 2008
A child porn raid on a religious compound in Arkansas occurred within a hour of this post in the Western District of Arkansas after an e-mail between AUSAs on the case was accidentally sent to the press. The raid was to be in October. Arkansasonline...

CT: Arrest in living room permitted SI of nearby kitchen counter 6-8' away

Posted on September 20, 2008
Search incident of the kitchen counter 6-8' from him when defendant was arrested face down on the living room floor was reasonable. State v. Williams, 2008 Conn. App. LEXIS 441 (September 16, 2008): The defendant argues that under the circumstances of this case, the kitchen counter was not within his immediate control because there was little or no probability that he could have launched an attack on the police from his position face down and handcuffed in the living room...

FL4: Searching for a dead body in a cigarette pack unreasonable; whole premise for entry was a ruse

Posted on September 20, 2008
Police got consent to enter defendant's apartment on a claim to the defendant that they had a report of a dead body being dragged rolled up in a carpet. Once inside, they did a search for drugs, and this was illegal. State v. Bartling, 2008 Fla. App. LEXIS 14239 (Fla...

GA: Plain feel did not support seizure from defendant's pocket

Posted on September 20, 2008
Object in defendant's pocket felt during a frisk was not immediately perceived as a weapon, so going in after it was not reasonable. Brown v. State, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 1010 (September 16, 2008)*: The record shows that Bohannon lacked authority to intrude into Brown's pocket...

Cal.5th: Police officer could pose as a home buyer and enter with real estate agent as long as officer does not exceed that consent

Posted on September 20, 2008
Officer acted as a potential buyer to access a home with a real estate agent to corroborate an informant, and this entry did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the entry never exceeded the extent of the consent given by the defendant to entries with the real estate agent...

MD: Trained narc credited on reasonable suspicion

Posted on September 20, 2008
Trained narcotics officers had reasonable suspicion that defendant was involved in drugs before his flight from them. State v. Dick, 2008 Md. App. LEXIS 108 (September 12, 2008): In our opinion, prior to Dick's flight and at the time of the stop, the police had reasonable suspicion that he was involved in illegal drug activity...

LA4: A stop on the street is [generally] compulsion, but a knock and talk is by consent

Posted on September 19, 2008
Officer confronting citizen on the street expects citizen to be detained, but a knock and talk can be refused. State v. Jarrell, 2008 La. App. LEXIS 1183 (4th Cir. September 12, 2008): There is a clear distinction between the police detaining a suspect on the street as authorized by Article 215...

NYS starts RFID driver's licenses to facilitate border travel. But what else is possible?

Posted on September 18, 2008
NYS started two days ago issuing RFID (radio frequency ID) chip enhanced driver's licenses (EDL). The State's official statement off its website is here. It's press release is here. Story on Switched.com here. The system is designed to faciliate travel to and from Canada, but it also can be used for travelers to Mexico, the Carribean, and Bermuda...

Worker on oil supply boat off Louisiana coast could be subjected to a border search where the boat went into international waters

Posted on September 18, 2008
Oil supply boat working off the Louisiana coast who was in international waters could be subjected to a border search when he arrived back in port. ICE suspected him of downloading child porn to his computer, and they searched the computer as a part of the border search...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.