On July 2, 2013, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Cotton [i] which serves as an excellent review of the law regarding consent to search and the scope of consent. The facts of Cotton are as follows: In February [...]
On February 13, 2013, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Skoda [i], which provides an answer to the question of whether a person possesses a reasonable expectation of privacy on land belonging to his family. The facts [...]
On March 13, 2013, the Court of Appeals of Georgia decided Corey v. State [i] in which they decided the issue of whether an officer may enter a DUI suspect’s garage at their residence without consent in order to conduct a DUI [...]
On June 4, 2013, the Court of Appeals of Georgia decided the State v. Carr [i] which illustrates the bounds of conduct deemed reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, even when police take action based on “officer safety” concerns. The facts of Carr are as follows: [...]
On May 16, 2013, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Hennix v. Prickett et al. [i] which serves as a reminder about when the use of a TASER is considered reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. At the outset, it must be [...]
Public school officials are continually developing new strategies to combat drug use and possession in their schools, and often these officials take action or implement policies that implicate the Fourth Amendment. Recently, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided C.M v. Springfield [...]
On March 8, 2013, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. King [i] in which they decided the issue of whether a warrantless, suspicion-less search of a probationer is constitutional under the Fourth Amendmentwhen it is based solely on [...]
On June 3, 2013, the United States Supreme Court decided Maryland v. King [i] which involved the issue of whether a Maryland statute that required arrestees of violent crimes to submit to a “buccal swab” of their cheek for a DNA sample [...]
At times, uniform patrol officers are asked by narcotics agents to conduct traffic stops on suspected drug traffickers. In some circumstances, the narcotics agent requesting the traffic stop wants the officer to develop his own legal justification to stop the [...]
Consent to search is a valid exception to the search warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. However, law enforcement officers must keep in mind that where and what they can search under such consent is limited by the scope of the consent [...]