Daily Archives: June 22, 2019

Cal.5: An unlawful arrest is not per se with excessive force under the 4A

An unlawful arrest is not per se with excessive force under the Fourth Amendment or state statute. People v. Perry, 2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 555 (5th Dist. June 18, 2019). The trial court’s finding that the police didn’t search defendant’s … Continue reading

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MT: 911 call about drunk driver was corroborated when car found

A 911 call reported a potential drunk driver. When the car was found, the officer’s observations were at least reasonable suspicion justifying a stop. Indreland v. Mont. DOJ, 2019 MT 141, 2019 Mont. LEXIS 226 (June 18, 2019). Defendant was … Continue reading

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N.D.Ind.: No REP in an open office where others were free to come and go and document was taken at police insistence

Here the court considers a post-verdict motion to suppress. The court noted that there were kernels of cause for a motion to suppress, albeit a private search of an office, but the complete picture didn’t develop until trial. Giving he … Continue reading

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CA8: Lack of knock-and-announce for parole search gets QI despite fact no case says it’s lawful; no “robust consensus of cases of persuasive authority”

Plaintiff absconded parolee was subjected to an unannounced entry into his hotel room about 6 am for a parole search. He was in bed with his girlfriend and a gun. The Arkansas Supreme Court held the entry violated the Fourth … Continue reading

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MA: SW in ongoing criminal enterprise was based on “powerful evidence”

“A Superior Court judge erred in granting a criminal defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress evidence seized by police from the defendant’s home and place of business, where the affidavit in support of the search warrants contained sufficient information to justify … Continue reading

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FL1: Recognizing conflict in many courts on compelled password production, court takes a middle ground: state must show what it wants with “reasonable particularity”

“To what extent does the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination protect a suspect in a criminal case from the compelled disclosure of a password to an electronic communications device in the state’s possession? Courts differ in their legal analysis of … Continue reading

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PA: ID made as a result of warrantless search suppressed, but that which was seen before may be testified to

An officer’s identification made wholly as a result of a warrantless search renders that identification tainted and inadmissible. If, however, eyewitness identification of a defendant occurred prior to illegal conduct by law enforcement may be admissible, if based on observations … Continue reading

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D.Minn.: A generic motion to suppress should be denied for telling the court nothing

“[F]ailure to affirmatively provide the Court with support for the motion as it relates to the warrant is a sufficient basis for denial of the motion.” Even so, the court goes to the merits and finds probable cause. United States … Continue reading

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D.Ariz.: FTCA doesn’t provide a damages remedy for how SW executed

FTCA doesn’t provide a damages remedy for how a search warrant is executed. Lopez v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102516 (D. Ariz. June 19, 2019) The officer’s body camera video showed one of the passengers wasn’t wearing a … Continue reading

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