The Fifth Circuit issued an unpublished opinion Friday in a case called U.S. v. Olvera (No. 04-11499). It’s a relatively unremarkable case about drug evidence uncovered after a search pursuant to the automobile exception. The one thing that’s intriguing about it is the justification given by the agent who stopped the car: “[The suspect] left one of […]
READ MOREThird Circuit on Qualified Immunity for Heavy-Handed Police Tactics in Drug Bust
The Third Circuit issued a reasonable ruling Monday in a really terrifying case called Couden v. Duffy (No. 04-1732). The case concerns a 2001 drug bust gone wrong in Newark, Delaware, in which FBI and local police, with guns drawn, chased a mom and her teenage kids, threw a flashlight through the window of the […]
READ MOREFEDS DROP LANCE ARMSTRONG INVESTIGATION
Hello again blog readers. After a year hiatus, I’m rejoining the blogosphere. My thanks to my law partner, Anthony Lake, for keeping things running in my absence. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles announced Friday (no coincidence that the announcement came Friday in an effort by the government to avoid unfavorable press), that is was […]
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 MORECalling Cops about Drug Deals That Go Bad
A man in Connecticut called 9-1-1 and complained to the police that his drug dealer had shorted him. He is now facing drug charges. Antonio Recinos not only called the police and explained to them his issue with the drug dealer but later, ran into a police patrolman and showed him a bag of blow […]
READ MOREUnited States v. Rodriquez: Supreme Court on “Serious Drug Offense” under the Armed Career Criminal Act
The Supreme Court today handed down United States v. Rodriquez, a sentencing case involving the interaction between state and federal law for people with prior “serious drug offense” convictions. I’m too slammed to do a writeup, but here’s the link to the opinion. Prof. Berman has a little analysis at the Sentencing Law and Policy […]
READ MOREThe Private Drug War and the Tattered Fourth Amendment
Pete at Drug WarRant had an troubling post this weekend about a couple ways that private companies have beenstepping in to the police’s shoes in carrying out drug policing. Pete wrote about a private, “voluntary” drug and alcohol screening stations for motorists (see examples here and here), and also about the use of Blackwater to […]
READ MOREThe Top 10 (plus one) Drug Law Stories of 2007
Another year is wrapping up and so it is once again time to consider the most interesting drug law stories of the last 365 days. Keep in mind that I’m a California oriented blogger and my interests have to do primarily with issues that are either in criminal law or in areas of our national […]
READ MOREPeople v. Laborde: Cruise Ship Searches At The Border Generally Require No Evidence
A search of a cruise ship stateroom conducted by customs officials in Long Beach after the ship had docked on arrival from a foreign location was a “routine” border search, requiring no suspicion of criminal activity, the Second District Court of Appeal concluded today in People v. Laborde, B199726. That decision meant that a guy […]
READ MORECA 1st: Police’s Warrantless Entry into Home Not Justified Merely Because Officer Sees Marijuana Smoking
A police officer who sees a person smoking marijuana inside their home is not justified in making a warrantless entry into that home on that basis alone, the First District Court of Appeal held Friday in People v. Hua, A116578. The police’s warrantless entry was justified, the trial court had believed, by “exigent circumstances.” However, the court […]
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