Post details: A violation of state law is not a per se Fourth Amendment violation, but it can show unreasonableness

04/04/07

Permalink 08:14:08 am, by fourth Email , 307 words, 192 views   English (US)
Categories: General

A violation of state law is not a per se Fourth Amendment violation, but it can show unreasonableness

An arrest in Oklahoma by Arkansas officials on an Arkansas arrest warrant violated the laws of both states, and, while a violation of state law may not be a constitutional violation, it could still be unreasonable, and that would make it violate the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, plaintiff's case should proceed to trial. Engleman v. Ferguson, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23287 (W.D. Ark. March 28, 2007).

Officers had no reasonable suspicion when they approached defendant and ordered him to take his hands out of his pockets. They could articulate no reason other than officer safety, but having one's hands in pockets is not suspicious conduct. State v. Hamilton, 2007 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 278 (March 29, 2007).*

Defendant's removal from a Greyhound bus in New Mexico was by consent. The officer got on the bus and asked about citizenship, and defendant said he was naturalized, and he began to sweat profusely. The officer asked or told him to get off the bus so they could talk, and the district court credited the officer's version that it was consensual. Reasonable suspicion developed for a patdown which produced drugs taped to defendant's body. United States v. Rodriguez-Lopez, 222 Fed. Appx. 784 (10th Cir. 2007)* (unpublished).

Defendant signed a Fourth Amendment waiver after conviction in state court. Then, he was investigated for a drug offense. The court never had to reach the blanket waiver issue because the district court found that the search was by consent that day and that the finding was not clearly erroneous. United States v. Brown, 223 Fed. Appx. 875 (11th Cir. 2007)* (unpublished).

There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in not having a law enforcement officer look through a car's windows while it is parked on a hotel parking lot. The officer used a flashlight to see through the tinting and saw crack cocaine in baggies on the seat. State v. Battle, 2007 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 276 (March 29, 2007).*

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"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting)

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Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring).

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Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987)

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Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967)

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Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)

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