Category Archives: Body searches

CA6: State sanctioned blood draws of newborns and keeping the samples stated 4A claim

Plaintiffs stated a Fourth Amendment claim that the state took blood samples from children to check for diseases and then retained them in the Michigan Neonatal Biorepository. Remanded for further consideration. Kanuszewski v. Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services, … Continue reading

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CA6: No QI for a baseless stop, strip search, and body cavity search and then tightening handcuffs for ptf’s complaining about his treatment

The officer gets no qualified immunity in his interlocutory appeal. On the complaint, plaintiff stated a claim that his stop was not objectively reasonable in the first place. A police dog was put into plaintiff’s vehicle, then it was searched … Continue reading

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MA: Bag of dope protuding from butt crack was seized in a strip search, not a body cavity search

“During a lawful strip search of the defendant following his arrest, police officers observed a plastic bag protruding from the cleft between his buttocks and caused him to remove it; it was revealed to contain individually wrapped plastic bags of … Continue reading

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NY1: Def denied opportunity to participate in hearing for body samples required reversal

A suspect from whom body samples (like DNA) are being taken is entitled by due process to participate in the search warrant issuance process. Here, he wasn’t. Reversed. People v. Goldman, 2019 NY Slip Op 02976, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. … Continue reading

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N.D.Ohio: Corroboration of CI for rectal SW was thin, but GFE applies

Based on a CI that was partially corroborated, officers believed defendant was concealing drugs in his rectum. They obtain a search warrant for a rectal search. The probable cause from the CI is thin. “Basic fairness requires the government to … Continue reading

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CA7: QI barred § 1983 over forced prison blood draw

Plaintiff is an inmate in prison who was ordered to give a blood test when prison officials decided he wasn’t acting right and might be high. His suit over the prison’s forced blood draw is barred by qualified immunity. Holm … Continue reading

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W.D.Va.: Govt doesn’t get to photograph all tattoos on defs’ bodies, despite what’s available on social media; just those normally visible

The government can photograph defendants’ tattoos that are normally visible in daily use. The government cannot, however, photograph tattoos usually covered by clothes despite the fact they were occasionally revealed on social media pages. That’s not a waiver as to … Continue reading

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D.Ariz.: A dog sniff of the person at the border is not “non-routine”

Defendant crossed into the U.S. at a pedestrian border crossing. A dog sniff of the person was conducted. “The Court finds that the intrusiveness of the canine search did not rise to the level of a non-routine search, which would … Continue reading

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CA5: Officers get QI for body cavity search with SW that turned up nothing

Plaintiff’s pat down at the jail after a valid arrest led officers to believe that he had something protruding from his anus. He denied anything was there, and he refused to consent to removing it. Officers got a search warrant … Continue reading

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NY1: Tossing backpack from car is waiver of REP

Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a backpack he tossed from a car as he was being stopped by the police. (This conviction was February 2013; nearly six years being decided on appeal.) People v. Febo, 2018 N.Y. … Continue reading

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E.D.Mich.: Govt showed basis to get SW for def’s blood to prove he wasn’t taking the oxy he was prescribed

Defendant’s oxycodone use was tipped to the police by an automated system that he was prescribed 50 oxys a day for five years [yet wasn’t dead]. “The indictment further alleges that from November 2012-November 2017, Defendant filled prescriptions on a … Continue reading

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CA9: Forced sex abuse exam of children without parental consent or court approval violates 4A

Children were removed from the home because of suspected child abuse and subjected to forced gynecological and rectal exams without any court authorization or parental knowledge or consent. The court assumes the “special needs” doctrine applies and then finds it … Continue reading

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PA: There was no PC for entry on a two-month-old capias

Defendant was arrested as a result of an entry on a capias for a domestic relations “violation.” The warrant was two months getting served, and there was no inquiry into whether defendant was residing at the home of a friend … Continue reading

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E.D.Ky.: Searching def’s underwear for drugs at 1:24 am on a virtually empty street that nobody likely saw was not unreasonable

The officer’s search of defendant’s underwear for drugs at 1:24 am on a dark night and nearly empty street was not a strip search and it was reasonably conducted. Nobody else was close enough to see anything. United States v. … Continue reading

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CA6: Alleged inappropriate search of 17-year-old girl before letting her go to bathroom during traffic stop that led to a drug dog and finding nothing gets to go to jury

A traffic stop of plaintiff’s family led to calling a drug dog. While waiting for the drug dog, plaintiff had to use the bathroom, and the detaining officers called for a female officer to escort her to a nearby bathroom … Continue reading

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CA9: No QI for IRS agent insisting that she watch ptf pee in her own bathroom during execution of tax SW

During an IRS criminal search, an IRS supervisory officer insisted that she watch plaintiff urinate in plaintiff’s own bathroom. This was sufficient to show an unreasonable invasion of privacy and overcome qualified immunity. Ioane v. Hodges, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading

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CO: Def doesn’t get a jury instruction in a DUI case that the officer could have sought a SW for blood

In a DUI case, defendant was not entitled to a jury instruction that the officer could have sought a search warrant for a blood draw. That’s not a jury question. People v. Gwinn, 2018 COA 130, 2018 Colo. App. LEXIS … Continue reading

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Ars Technica: Cheese danish shipping, warrantless GPS trackers, and a border doctrine challenge

Ars Technica: Cheese danish shipping, warrantless GPS trackers, and a border doctrine challenge BY Cyrus Farivar:

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WaPo: In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches

WaPo: In horrifying detail, women accuse U.S. customs officers of invasive body searches by Susan Ferriss, Center for Public Integrity:

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TX8: Hospital can’t be sued under § 1983 for medical negligence and battery in conducting intensive body, pelvic, and rectal searches for CBP that produced nothing at all

Plaintiff, an El Paso resident, was stopped at the border coming into El Paso from visiting a friend and subjected to several searches for drugs, including taking her to the appellant hospital for x-rays and a pelvic exam. Nothing was … Continue reading

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