Claim that government agents had knowledge murder would happen and they failed to stop it did not state claim for relief

Allegations that government agents had knowledge that a murder would occur and did nothing to stop it did not state a claim for relief under Bivens. Padilla v. United States, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65171 (W.D. Tex. August 20, 2007):

[T]he Court finds Plaintiffs have only produced unsupported allegations of constitutional liability coupled with conclusory assertions that should be dismissed in the face of Supreme Court and Fifth Circuit precedent.

Viewing the summary judgment evidence in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs and resolving every doubt in their favor, the Court finds it should dismiss Plaintiffs’ claims against all of the individual Defendants because they are entitled to qualified immunity. First, Plaintiffs fail the first prong of the qualified immunity framework, for they fail to sufficiently allege Defendants violated an actual constitutional right. Even if the Court were to find Plaintiffs sufficiently demonstrated a constitutional deprivation, the Court nonetheless finds Plaintiffs fail prong two of the qualified immunity analysis because Plaintiffs do not sufficiently allege any constitutional violations that were clearly established law at the time of the actions at issue.

Allegations in a motion to suppress were too vague to warrant a hearing. United States v. Rivera, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65255 (N.D. Ind. August 31, 2007).*

Officers do not need reasonable suspicion to conduct a knock and talk. United States v. Coleman, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65169 (W.D. La. August 31, 2007).*

Probable cause was slim, but sufficient on totality. The good faith exception would save the search in any event. United States v. Rossman, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65319 (D. Utah August 31, 2007).*

Officer had reasonable suspicion of drug smuggling of defendant’s vehicle close to the border on a drug corridor. United States v. Avendano-Sanchez, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65358 (W.D. Tex. August 28, 2007).*

Merely having the keys to a car did not show that defendant had standing to contest its search. Aragon v. State, 229 S.W.3d 716 (Tex. App.—San Antonio 2007):

Here, although Aragon had the keys to the car and was driving at the time of the incident, no evidence was admitted showing that he had permission to possess the vehicle or that he had an actual, reasonable, and subjective expectation of privacy in the searched vehicle. Aragon did not introduce evidence that he owned the vehicle or that the registered owner of the vehicle gave him consent to be in the car. In the absence of such evidence showing that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the vehicle, he lacks standing to complain of the search. See Rodriguez v. State, No. 01-04-00723-CR, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 9020, 2005 WL 2850234 *3 (Tex. App.-Houston [1st Dist.] Oct. 25, 2005, no pet.) (mem. op.). Accordingly, we hold that Aragon did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle and its contents so as to have standing to complain of the validity of any search or seizure of the blood and ballistics evidence in question. We overrule Aragon’s second and third issues.