The Fifth Amendment “public safety exception” for statements about firearms can also create exigent circumstances for a protective sweep for the gun. Defendant had a second degree murder warrant issued for him in 2015 for a 2008 murder in Buffalo. He was traced to Birmingham, and the U.S. Marshal\u2019s Fugitive Task Force located him there. As an accused murderer, he admitted to possessing a gun, and that created exigency to retrieve it. United States v. Donaldson, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157122 (N.D.Ala. Oct. 22, 2015).<\/p>\n
Police responded to a domestic call, and when they got to the house, defendant was on the porch and said it was his girlfriend who called about a dispute over car keys, but she had left. They got permission for one to do a walk through to see if she was there, and she wasn\u2019t. The officer saw a meth pipe and he reported this to the other officer who conducted a patdown for fear that defendant was under the influence and potentially dangerous. Meth was found in his pocket by plain feel, and the frisk was reasonable. May v. State<\/a>, 2015 Ga. App. LEXIS 729 (Nov. 20, 2015) (4-2).*<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Fifth Amendment “public safety exception” for statements about firearms can also create exigent circumstances for a protective sweep for the gun. Defendant had a second degree murder warrant issued for him in 2015 for a 2008 murder in Buffalo. … Continue reading