Law.com: PA: Technology Was ‘Topic A’ for Superior Court-Until Lynn by Max Mitchell:

Continue reading →

ACLU: The Most Important Surveillance Order We Know Almost Nothing About by Alex Abdo:

Continue reading →

The district court granted a motion to suppress for two defendants but found no standing as to this defendant. He was on the premises to smuggle guns across the border, “a purely commercial purpose,” and was not the type of overnight guest entitled to standing. United States v. Rios-Davila, 530 Fed. Appx. 344 (5th Cir. 2013).

There was probable cause to search defendant’s car for cocaine when he arrived at the scene where the government established the cocaine was and it was put into the car. [He gains reversal for a 404(b) issue.] United States v. Richards, 719 F.3d 746 (7th Cir. 2013).*

Reasonable suspicion defeats an unlawful seizure claim. S.S. v. Bolton, 522 Fed. Appx. 452 (11th Cir. 2013).*

When officers are searching open fields for a large marijuana grow and they encounter people reasonably suspected to be involved with it, it is reasonable to draw their weapons and order those people to the ground for officer safety. It still was a Terry stop at that point. United States v. Gerardo, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100953 (C.D. Ill. July 19, 2013).

The Secret Service had probable cause to believe that there was software on defendant’s computer for counterfeiting checks. They got a search warrant for the computer for the search for the software and stumbled upon child pornography. That search was stopped and another search warrant was obtained for child porn. The first valid warrant was an independent source for the second. United States v. Carter, 530 Fed. Appx. 199 (3d Cir. 2013).

The “encounter” with a vehicle under Oregon law has to be “in connection with a crime” for the automobile exception to apply. That happened here. State v. Finlay, 257 Ore. App. 581, 307 P.3d 518 (2013).*

Parole officers had probable cause to believe that defendant was living at an unauthorized address after staking it out and seeing her there. They took her inside, and the entry was valid under the Fourth Amendment as a parole search. United States v. Payne, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108256 (S.D. Ohio August 1, 2013).

“Luedtke and Goodwin originally moved to suppress any evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant or warrantless search. However, Luedtke and Goodwin never identified any seized evidence, search warrants, or warrantless searches, nor did Luedtke or Goodwin submit any legal argument for suppression. The Court therefore recommends that the motions to suppress evidence be denied as moot.” United States v. Luedtke, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107499 (D. Minn. June 5, 2013).*

The smell of burning marijuana coming from defendant’s car made it reasonable to slightly extend the stop and then ask for consent to search. Rogers v. State, 323 Ga. App. 647, 747 S.E.2d 213 (2013).*

Consent to search a house includes the garage. United States v. Aguirre, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112738 (D. Idaho August 7, 2013).

Defense counsel filed a motion to suppress cocaine which was heard but wasn’t ruled on. The cocaine came in at trial without objection. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective because there was consent, and it would not have been suppressed. Blitch v. State, 323 Ga. App. 677, 747 S.E.2d 863 (2013).*

Defendant was on supervised release, and he was released from a halfway house to live in an apartment, and his apartment was searched under the release terms. It was reasonable. He had no reasonable expectation of privacy. United States v. Edelman, 726 F.3d 305 (2d Cir. 2013).

The state concedes on appeal that a search incident for felony evading arrest was not lawful under Gant. State v. Davis, 2013 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 689 (August 14, 2013).

Entry into defendant’s house was valid under exigency. Officers responded to a 911 DV call with injury. Defendant’s wife was whispering at the door and seemed afraid. Then they saw defendant coming down the stairs with a gun in hand. State v. Brooks, 2013 Ohio 3505, 2013 Ohio App. LEXIS 3608 (5th Dist. August 14, 2013).*

Officers had an uncorroborated tip on defendant’s car about metal thefts. Driving slow was not reasonable suspicion, and the motion to suppress should have been granted. Lewis v. State, 323 Ga. App. 709, 747 S.E.2d 867 (2013).*

State’s argument that defendant consented to a stop and was free to ignore blue lights to stop him strains credulity. Of course he was stopped, and it was without any legal justification at all. Dryer v. State, 323 Ga. App. 734, 747 S.E.2d 895 (2013):

Continue reading →

Police let a dual purpose tracking and drug dog loose to track a man, and the dog and the police entered defendant’s curtilage and the dog alerted on the house. The curtilage was violated [and Jardines isn’t even cited]. Mitchell v. State, 323 Ga.
App. 739, 747 S.E.2d 900 (2013) (date of the search isn’t shown, but it had to be pre-Jardines).

Failure to object to the search and seizure until after the evidence was admitted was waiver of the search and seizure claim. Trung The Luu v. State, (Tex. App. – Houston (14th Dist.) 2013).*

The officer had reasonable suspicion defendant was under the influence. Police were called to a Whataburger because the driver of a vehicle was passed out in the drive-through lane. The stop was valid. Lundgren v. State, 410 S.W.3d 464 (Tex. App. – Ft. Worth August 22, 2013).*

Being asleep at the wheel in a convenience store parking lot with the engine running justified a community caretaking function check of the driver. United States v. Peoples, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120817 (N.D. Okla. August 26, 2013).*

Defendant’s waiver of Fourth Amendment rights was expressly put on the record at the time of his plea to probation, and he didn’t object or appeal. He can’t claim now that it was an unauthorized sentence [not that it would ever be anyway]. Wiggins v. State, 323 Ga. App. 754, 748 S.E.2d 120 (2013).*

Defendant moved to dismiss making various claims of outrageous governmental conduct, including alleged falsities in a search warrant affidavit. None measure up to the high standard, and there’s a Franks remedy for the alleged falsities. United States v. Marks, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120908 (S.D. Fla. March 5, 2013).*

Defendant was suspected of burglary of a house with two lookouts. When the police confronted him, he dropped a backpack, volunteering that it wasn’t his. That was an abandonment of the backpack. State v. Morgan, 406 S.W.3d 490 (Mo. App. 2013).*

A torn mud flap and too small DOT lettering were justification for a stop of a tractor trailer, and reasonable suspicion developed from that. Valentine v. State, 323 Ga. App. 761, 748 S.E.2d 122 (2013).*

In an illegal search civil case, the question of the break in causation was properly left to the jury. Plaintiff alleged the warrants were issued on false information. Chief Info. Officer v. Computers Plus Ctr., 310 Conn. 60, 74 A.3d 1242 (2013).*

A reasonable belief the subject of an arrest warrant is in a third person’s house is required to enter on the warrant. When the subject disclaims connection to the house, he has no standing to contest the lack of a search warrant for him. Commonwealth v. Tatum, 466 Mass. 45, 992 N.E.2d 987 (2013).

Bivens actions in Pennsylvania are subject to the state’s two year limitation period. This was filed out of time. Francis v. Miligan, 530 Fed. Appx. 138 (3d Cir. 2013).*

This prison cell search claim fails as a matter of law. Hurst v. Snider, 530 Fed. Appx. 168 (3d Cir. 2013).*

Allegedly falsified factual basis for an arrest warrant states a § 1983 Fourth Amendment claim. Plaintiff surrendered on a warrant where his attorney had an agreement with the state he would bond out. Defendant then told the jail that he couldn’t be released because additional charges would be filed, and they were. Plaintiff was portrayed in the media as a methamphetamine dealer. After drug testing was done by the state lab, no controlled substances were found, and the charges were dismissed. Plaintiff properly filed a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim. Myers v. Koopman, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 25357 (10th Cir. December 20, 2013):

Continue reading →

LATimes: One in four GPS devices on criminals in L.A. County were faulty:

Continue reading →

Reason.com: L.A. DUI Checkpoints: Now With More Saliva in Your Questionable Fourth Amendment Practices by Brian Doherty:

Continue reading →

HuffPo: Cell Phone Carriers Didn’t Use Tech Fixes To Combat NSA Spying: Expert by Jim Finkle:

Continue reading →

WaPo: FAA picks six states for drone testing by Reid Wilson:

Continue reading →

eff.org: 2013 in Review: EFF Convinces Court to Declare National Security Letters Unconstitutional – President’s Panel Agrees by Matt Zimmerman:

Continue reading →

Politico: NSA surveillance: Lifeline, limbo by Jonathan Allen and Josh Gerstein:

The political system is likely to deliver a verdict on the program much sooner than the courts.

Law.com: HBO, Videographer Spared Liability for Shooting in Raid by Andrew Keshner:

Continue reading →