by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts’ order granting a new trial after the prosecutor mentioned a co-conspirator’s decision to plead guilty despite the fact the co-conspirator was not present for questioning.
Donna Ackerly was ...
by Anthony Accurso
Police generally need a warrant toconduct a search or seizure in the U.S., though this rule has garnered a few exceptions since being enshrined in the Constitution’s Fourth Amendment. One such exception is when a person “consents” to the search upon request. But is it true consent ...
by Anthony Accurso
Angel Diaz, a staff expert with the Brennan Center for Justice, recently published a report on internet-connected devices titled “Law Enforcement Access to Smart Devices.”
This report is part of an ongoing project by Diaz, counsel with the Liberty & National Security Program, and the Brennan Center ...
by Anthony Accurso
Police in Beverly Hills have picked-up a new trick, seemingly intended to avoid accountability: playing copyrighted music when being filmed by citizens.
Sennett Devermont is a well-known, LA-area activist with over 300,000 followers in Instagram.
He went to the Beverly Hills PD office to file a request ...
by Anthony Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that a police officer’s seizure of a firearm from a vehicle was unreasonable because an inventory of the vehicle was abandoned, and the officer did not need to seize the firearm to protect the public.
On January ...
by Anthony Accurso
A recent analysis, published in the Law & Social Inquiry Journal, demonstrates how the online availability of law enforcement and court databases amounts to “digital punishment,” including for many persons who were merely arrested for, but never convicted of, a crime.
Researchers Sarah Esther Lageson (Rutgers ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of New Hampshire held that a defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his apartment’s utility closet and that officers’ warrantless search of the closet was in violation of Part I, Article 19 of the New Hampshire Constitution.
On January 17, 2018, Kingston ...
by Anthony Accurso
In an opinion filed Feb. 23, 2021, the Supreme Court of Tennessee suppressed the evidence located during a sweep of defendant’s home because the search of the home was neither inevitable nor consented to by the homeowner due to duress.
The White County Sheriff’s Office asked neighboring ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Colorado denied the People’s appeal when it determined the prosecution failed to carry its burden in establishing the independent source doctrine applied where police obtained a second legitimate search warrant after the first was invalidated; the evidence in question obtained as a result ...
by Anthony Accurso
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held officers lacked probable cause to arrest a motorist who failed to provide identification when officers stopped to help with car trouble.
On April 25, 2017, George Wingate III noticed the check engine light activated while he was driving ...
