©2010 Lou Reiter, Co-Director, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute - Some of you probably have never heard of Bradyi or Giglioii cases.  Neither case has had much direct impact on your police tasks.  Or maybe you’ve just been lucky.  These cases and subsequent cases are now causing new considerations in today’s policing. The Supreme Court decided Brady in 1963 and Giglio in 1972.  Steve Rothlein wrote about the interpretation of these cases and implication for police investigators in the October 2007,PATC Newsletter.  Brady essentially required the prosecutor to turn over to the criminal defense any material that might be exculpatory; or help in the defense.  Gigliorequired the prosecutor to turn over any material that could [...]

©2010 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute - In 2005, the United States Supreme Court decided the United States v. Caballesi, which involved the constitutionality of the use of a police canine during a routine traffic stop.  In this case, an officer stopped Caballes for speeding.  During the course of the traffic stop, another officer, and his drug-detection canine stopped at the scene.  The canine officer conducted a “free air sniff” of the exterior of Caballes vehicle and the dog alerted at the trunk.  The officers opened the trunk and found narcotics. The issue before the court was whether the Fourth Amendment requires [...]

©2010 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute - United States v. Vinton, No. 07-3125, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 2450 (D.C. Cir. Decided February 5, 2010) On September 9, 2009, at about 9:00p.m., a U.S. Park Police officer was on patrol in Southeast D.C.  He observed a Nissan Maxima speeding and also believed that the windows were tinted in excess of D.C. statute.  As the officer prepared to conduct a traffic stop, he observed a law enforcement “blue line” sticker on the car. He activated his lights and the driver, Vinton, pulled over.  Vinton lowered all of his windows as the officer approached.  [...]

©2010 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute - United States v. Johnson, No. 09-2245, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS (3rd Cir. Decided January 27, 2010) On January 27, 2010, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Johnsoni, which serves as an excellent example and review of reasonable suspicion and the ability of officers to lawfully conduct “felony stops.”  The facts of the case are as follows: [internal citations omitted] on the night of January 7, 2007 when Tammy Anderson noticed a taxicab pull into a parking lot across the street from her house and park next  to a van. Though [...]

©2010 Brian S. Batterton, Attorney, Legal & Liability Risk Management Institute - Under Miranda v. Arizonai, a person subject to a custodial interrogation has several options.  The person can waive their rights and talk to the police, they can invoke their right to silence or they can invoke their right to counsel.  The most stringent right that a person can assert is their right to counsel.  The invocation of the right to counsel has been addressed by the United States Supreme Court in the Edwards/Roberson/Minnick line of cases. In Edwards v. Arizonaii, officers arrested Edwards and read him his rights under Miranda.  He waived his rights.  After a [...]

In 1966, the United States Supreme Court decided Miranda v. Arizonai and held that, prior to custodial questioning, in order to mitigate the police dominated environment that is likely to overpower a person’s will, the police must warn a person of their rights under the Fifth Amendment.  The four warnings proscribed by the Court in Miranda were (1) the person has a right to remain silent, (2) that anything the person says can be used against him in a court of law, (3) that the person has the right to the presence of an attorney, and (4) that if the person cannot afford an [...]