Kansas City Star: Kansas police searched their car without a warrant, and they lost custody of their son

Kansas City Star: Kansas police searched their car without a warrant, and they lost custody of their son by Katie Moore & Katie Bernard (“It’s been more than two years since Claudia Astudillo Aguirre lost custody of her child. [¶] Garden City Police searched her family’s car without their consent, resulting in criminal charges that were later dropped. But she’s still grappling with the fallout from the search after the loss of precious years with her infant son, who remains in the foster care system. [¶] Her experience represents what many attorneys say is the most common form of Fourth Amendment rights violations – the warrantless vehicle search.”)

The question is whether there was probable cause. Period. Not a warrant. Moreover, the arrest of an innocent person is not a due process or Fourth Amendment violation. Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137, 145 (1979) (“Respondent’s innocence of the charge contained in the warrant, while relevant to a tort claim of false imprisonment in most if not all jurisdictions, is largely irrelevant to his claim of deprivation of liberty without due process of law. The Constitution does not guarantee that only the guilty will be arrested.”).