Daily Archives: May 18, 2015

SCOTUS: Officers get qualified immunity in shooting a mentally ill person who came at them with a knife

Officers called to a disturbance where a mentally ill person threatened her social worker get qualified immunity for shooting her for coming at them with a knife. The law was not clearly established that they had to make any special … Continue reading

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KY: Defendant who refused consent for blood test and got no breath test has no Fourth Amendment claim that he wasn’t breath tested

Defendant was stopped for traffic offenses and smelled of alcohol. He refused consent to search his blood for his BAC, and the officer did not offer him a breath test. Thus, he had no “standing” because of no injury in … Continue reading

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WaPo: How the IRS seized a man’s life savings without ever charging him with a crime

WaPo: How the IRS seized a man’s life savings without ever charging him with a crime by Christopher Ingraham: The United States of America, Plaintiff, v. $107,702.66 in United States Currency, Defendant. That’s the Kafkaesque title of a civil asset … Continue reading

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CA8: Consent to search a computer includes the external hard drive plugged into it

Police came to defendant’s house for a sex offender location check, and he admitted them into the house. There was a laptop downstairs, and defendant consented to a search of it. Defendant asked to go to the bathroom, and the … Continue reading

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W.D.Tex. credits motorist and passenger over officer and finds no reasonable suspicion

In a rare occurrence, the Western District of Texas at El Paso believed the motorist and passenger over the officer about the reasonable suspicion for the stop. The defendant had been stopped four times in a short period of time, … Continue reading

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TN: A “no trespassing” sign outside the yard does not prevent police from coming in to do a knock-and-talk

A “no trespassing” sign outside the yard does not prevent police from coming in to do a knock-and-talk. “Even in the face of No Trespassing signs, it is not unreasonable for a police officer to intrude upon private property to … Continue reading

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