On July 11, 2018, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided Escobar v. Montee[i], in which the court examined whether it was reasonable to allow a police K9 to bite a felony assault suspect who was within arm's reach of his knife for approximately a minute until he was safely handcuffed.  The relevant facts of Escobar are as follows: Escobar assaulted his wife in a restaurant parking lot, and then left her alone in a nearby retail lot. After noticing police vehicles at his house, he fled into the night. He ran through several neighbors' yards, finally hiding in the [...]

On July 10, 2018, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Mason-Funk v. City of Neenah, et al.[i], in which the court examined a police shooting of a man who was an armed hostage of a barricaded gunman.  The relevant facts of Mason are as follows: At approximately 8:35 a.m. on December 5, 2015, Flatoff entered Eagle Nation Cycles in Neenah, Wisconsin, with a MAC-10 machine pistol and took four individuals in the shop, including Funk, hostage. Flatoff had a dispute with an individual named Vance Dalton, and demanded that he come to the shop. Winnebago County Dispatch notified the [...]

On June 13, 2018, the Supreme Court of South Carolina decided State v. Brown[i], in which the court discussed whether a burglary suspect, who apparently dropped his cell phone at the scene of a burglary, abandoned his Fourth Amendment reasonable expectation of privacy in the contents of the phone. The facts of Brown, taken directly from the case, are as follows: On December 22, 2011, one of the victims and his girlfriend returned from dinner to his condominium on James Island in the city of Charleston. The victim testified they went straight to the living room because "I had arranged [...]

On June 4, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals of decided Manners v. Cannella et al.[i], in which the court discussed whether officers were entitled to qualified immunity for an arrest and use of force incident.  This is a two-part article.  Part One discussed whether probable cause existed to arrest Manners.  Part Two will discuss whether the use of force was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.  The relevant facts of Manners are as follows: Close to three in the morning on June 24, 2014, Livingston Manners was sitting in his car on the side of Plunkett Street, a residential [...]

On June 4, 2018, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decided Manners v. Cannella et al.[i], in which the court discussed whether officers were entitled to qualified immunity for an arrest and use of force incident.  This is a two-part article, with Part One discussing whether probable cause existed to arrest Manners.  Part Two will discuss whether the use of force was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.  The relevant facts of Manners are as follows: Close to three in the morning on June 24, 2014, Livingston Manners was sitting in his car on the side of Plunkett Street, a residential [...]

On June 6, 2018, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decided the United States v. Boyd[i], in which the court discussed whether probable cause existed, based on an informant’s undercover drug purchase and officer observations, to justify a search of the defendant’s apartment for drugs.  The relevant facts of Boyd are as follows: Officer Aaron Ham works for the Kalamazoo Valley Enforcement Team. He has investigated drug crimes for over seventeen years. One day in May 2016, an informant told Officer Ham that Michael Boyd was selling drugs out of his apartment on McCourtie Street in Kalamazoo. Officer Ham drove [...]