Wisconsin adopts Heien on reasonable mistakes of law

Wisconsin adopts Heien on reasonable mistakes of law, overruling all past cases. Reasonable suspicion is all that’s needed for a traffic stop, not probable cause. State v. Houghton, 2015 WI 79, 2015 Wisc. LEXIS 484 (July 14, 2015).

Fleeing into bushes when an officer ID’d himself and then returning 20 seconds later was reasonable suspicion. The gun found there was abandoned. People v. Heath, 2015 V.I. LEXIS 78 (July 10, 2015).*

In a § 1983 Fourth Amendment case, plaintiff’s opening brief didn’t allege what right was clearly established and didn’t cite a case in support, and that’s waiver of the appellate argument. “Certainly, a plausible argument can be made that the officer’s conduct in the present case crossed that constitutional line. That, however, is not good enough to pierce the officer’s claim of qualified immunity. Under Saucier and Pearson and their progeny, the piercing requires a violation of a constitutional right clearly established at the time of the incident. Not only has Mrs. Fox not established that her right not to be seized in the circumstances of this case was “clearly established,” she did not even argue this matter in her opening brief.” Fox v. Gov’t of the Dist. of Columbia, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 12345 (July 17, 2015).*