MD: Public quasi-strip search of arrestee was reasonable because of exigency

Defendant’s quasi-public strip search in broad daylight in public was not unreasonable because it was supported by exigent circumstances. While other cases did find such a search unreasonable, this one wasn’t. “We must now weigh the scope, manner, and location of the search against the last Bell [v. Wolfish] factor—justification for the search. We hold that, in this case, the exigency of the search outweighed any intrusion on appellant’s privacy. In fact, the urgency of the search in this case was much greater than that in Paulino and Allen.” Turkes v. State, 199 Md. App. 96, 20 A.3d 173 (2011).

Motion to reconsider affirmance of denial of motion to suppress was denied because nothing was offered to show that the prior opinion was in error, so it was law of the case. State v. Caulfield, 2011 La. App. LEXIS 652 (La. App. 5th Cir. May 24, 2011).*

The search warrant’s identification of records of two persons “or others” did not make the warrant overbroad because “or others” could be severed from the warrant if necessary. United States v. Rios, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 10659 (9th Cir. May 24, 2011) (unpublished)* (Since this is a memorandum opinion, we can’t tell if this phrase is essentially irrelevant to the search anyway; if nothing outside the scope of the warrant was seized, where’s the beef?)

Defense counsel was not ineffective for not using the DVD of the traffic stop to show the length of the stop was unreasonable. Going to the merits of the issue, it wasn’t unreasonable, so defense counsel couldn’t be ineffective. State v. Bush, 2011 Iowa App. LEXIS 334 (May 25, 2011).*