NJ: Vehicle SW doesn’t sanitize the prior illegal stop or shift the burden to defense

A later issued search warrant doesn’t retroactively justify a stop the defense showed to be without a legal basis. The state carried the burden of proof throughout, and it could not shift the burden to the defense by the issuance of the search warrant. State v. Atwood, 2018 N.J. LEXIS 356 (Mar. 29, 2018).

Defense counsel’s not pursuing a suppression motion about defendant’s cell phone was a reasonable strategic choice and essentially didn’t matter because of the other evidence the government had connecting defendant to the cell phone that had nothing to do with its seizure. Barnes v. United States, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53306 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 29, 2018).

Defense counsel’s failure to refile a motion to suppress after one had already been denied wasn’t ineffective assistance of counsel because it was futile to file it. Loughry v. United States, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52915 (S.D. Ind. Mar. 29, 2018).*

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