©2012 Jack Ryan, Attorney, Co-Director, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) In Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington [i] the United States Supreme Court examined whether or not jails can strip search all persons to be booked into general population, no matter how minor the offense, and without reasonable suspicion to believe they were hiding contraband or weapons.  The Court’s syllabus outlined the facts relating to the strip searches of Florence as follows: In 1998, seven years before the incidents at issue, petitioner Albert Florence was arrested after fleeing from police officers in Essex County, New [...]

©2012 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) In criminal procedure, the “fruit of the poisonous tree” doctrine states that evidence that is derived from an illegal stop or other illegally obtained evidence will be inadmissible in court under the exclusionary rule.  There may be hope for an otherwise bad case, though, when the evidence that the state seeks to introduce in court is sufficiently “attenuated” or disconnected from the initial illegal circumstance.  Thus, “attenuation” works to purge the taint of an otherwise unlawful search or stop.  In some circumstances, evidence may be sufficiently “attenuated” when [...]

©2012 Jack Ryan, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) At the end of last week the United States Supreme Court overturned a United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit holding regarding the liability of an officer who had sought and received a search warrant.  In Messerschmidt v. Millender [i] the Court held that it will only be in a very narrow instance where an officer can have Fourth Amendment liability for violating the rules of search and seizure where the officer has sought and obtained a search warrant. A prior United States Supreme Court case sets the foundation [...]

©2012 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) Law enforcement officers are often called to keep the peace during eviction proceedings.  While the vast majority of these incidents are handled without problems, at times, it is possible for officers or deputies to sometimes exceed the bounds of what the Constitution allows.  Recently, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Cochran v. Gilliam [i] which provides guidance regarding the constitutional parameters for officers or deputies on scene at an eviction in order to keep the peace. The facts of Gilliam are as follows:  In 2008, Cochran leased a home from the Mr. and [...]

©2012 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) It is widely recognized by courts that a positive alert by a properly trained and certified police canine provides probable cause for a search of an automobile.  However, does this mean, conversely, that the failure of a canine to alert on an automobile negates other factors that, taken in their totality, may amount to probable cause to believe contraband is present in an automobile?  On April 28, 2011, the Court of Appeals of Idaho decided the State v. Anderson [i], in which the Idaho court addressed this issue. In Anderson, a [...]

©2012 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, PATC Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute (www.llrmi.com) It is well known that police must provide suspects with Miranda warnings for custodial questioning. Further, before questioning, the suspect must waive his Fifth Amendment rights after the warnings are given.  However, sometimes, the specific circumstances of an interview or interrogation provide some ambiguity as to whether an interview is “custodial” or “non-custodial” for the purposes of Miranda.  Recently, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided United States v. Cavazos [i] which offers police some guidance regarding whether or not an interview will be considered “non-custodial” when conducted in the suspect’s residence.  The facts of Cavazos are [...]