A federal trial judge in Vermont last week ruled that the police’s failure to knock at a residence before executing a search warrant is a violation of the Vermont state constitution, even if it is no longer a violation of the federal constitution after the Supreme Court’s decision in Hudson v. Michigan. As the federal […]
READ MORECA Moves Toward Regulating — Rather Than Wholly Criminalizing — Salvia
A big hat tip to reader J, who notes that a California bill on salvia divinorum, AB 259, has been passed through committee in a form that simply criminalizes the sale of salvia to a person under the age of 18. Persons who violate that prohibition would be subject to misdemeanor sanctions. When I was […]
READ MORECan Comments on a Police Blog Be the Basis for a Motion to Suppress?
My eyes bugged out a little bit on reading a recent post on the blog of the LAPD that described a “surprise discovery” made by officers serving a warrant at a home in South Los Angeles where stolen property and drugs were found (a screenshot of the post is below in case it later gets edited. Click on […]
READ MOREI Always Keep My Weapons In An Altoids Container
A Terry-type search of an Atloids tin, a bundle wrapped in duct tape and a brass pipe did not violate a suspect’s Fourth Amendment rights because the officer who conducted the search “testified that he thought each of these items could be, or could conceal, a weapon,” the Ninth Circuit held today in U.S. v. Hartz, […]
READ MOREConviction Overturned for Kentucky Pain Doctor
The Kentucky Supreme Court has tossed out the conviction of a pain doctor who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for unlawfully prescribing medication. The evidence against Dr. Fortune J. Williams was based in part on files seized during a warrantless raid of his office — a raid that was carried out both by […]
READ MOREThe Penn State Federal Grand Jury Subpoena
For whatever reason there was a glitch in my post yesterday and I’ve received a number of comments that folks have not been able to access the federal grand jury subpoena issued to Penn State University about the sordid Sandusky investigation. So, here’s the direct link on the Penn State Not only is the content […]
READ MOREThe New York Times Weighs in on Open File Discovery and Brady
Not sure what prompted it, but the New York Times yesterday had an Opinion piece calling for the Department of Justice to “set a national example” by engaging in open file discovery. Noting that the Senator Stevens case prompted a Department wide review of policies related to the disclosure of Brady evidence (evidence favorable to […]
READ MOREMost Investors Do Not Know How to Recognize Investment Fraud
Investors who fall victim to investment fraud could face significant financial loss. Litigation provides recourse to investment fraud victims, but often shareholders and investors do not detect problems with the company they have invested in until the company is bankrupt or in serious financial trouble. A bankrupt company has limited or no assets to pay […]
READ MOREHearse and Body Stolen in Atlanta; Police Arrest Suspect
Man Steals Hearse for a Joy Ride, Finds Out Later a Corpse Came Along It’s a bad weekend when a family member dies. It only gets worse when the funeral home calls you later to say their hearse was stolen — and your loved one’s body was inside. Maybe the only one having a worse […]
READ MORENinth Circuit on ‘Good Faith’ Exception When Warrant Clearly Unsupported By Probable Cause
The U.S. v. Leon rule allowing officers to rely in “good faith” on what turns out to be an inadequate warrant does not apply when it was not objectively reasonable in the first place for the officers to believe that the warrant was supported by probable cause, a Ninth Circuit panel held today in U.S. […]
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