by Anthony W. Accurso
Police are tasked with upholding the law, but current case law has created a system where officers are actually incentivized to break the law by making bogus traffic stops.
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides that citizens will be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. The Supreme Court has found it reasonable for a police officer to initiate a traffic stop for even the most minor of traffic infractions and has provided police with the presumption of truthfulness such that their testimony can only be undermined by clear evidence that contradicts their testimony (such as video footage).
Though the Court has attempted to place limitations on police authority by requiring probable cause or consent for searches and limiting traffic stops to their essential purpose, too many officers abuse this authority too often.
Perversely, there are social and financial incentives for doing so. When an officer concocts a pretext for initiating a traffic stop that results in the seizure of narcotics, weapons, or a wanted person, they are rewarded for protecting the community. Further, law enforcement agencies conduct large-scale operations where officers are encouraged to identify as many traffic violations as possible in a short ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Ohio held that the Court of Appeals erred in applying the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule where the search warrant for cellphones found at the scene of a traffic accident stated that evidence of a crime “may” be found on the defendant’s cellphone.
A vehicle being driven by Alan Schubert crossed the center line, striking another vehicle. Only Schubert survived, and while he was unconscious and receiving care at a nearby hospital, investigators determined that his blood tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl.
Shortly thereafter, police sought a search warrant to inspect three cellphones they recovered at the scene of the accident. The affidavit accompanying the warrant stated that the phones “may” contain additional evidence in connection with the investigation, so police wanted to obtain “personal identifiers” and metadata for “incoming and outgoing calls, text messages and/or internet browsing information,” including any of this information that could be obtained from “cloud storage,” on the premise that this information “may contain evidence … to the crime” of aggravated vehicular homicide. (emphasis supplied)
While searching Schubert’s phone, police discovered pictures of nude juveniles sufficient to support multiple counts of pandering ...
by Anthony W Accurso
A California trial court held that ageofence warrant obtained by the San Francisco PD violated the Fourth Amendment and the recently enacted California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“CalECPA”), requiring future warrants to be more narrowly tailored.
People v. Dawes, Court No. 19002022, SW# 42739, involved a 2018 burglary for which the police had difficulty identifying a suspect. Police obtained a warrant to obtain location data from Google’s Location History database, which enabled police to identify Laquan Dawes.
For those unfamiliar with the details of geofence warrants, these usually involve a three-step process. First, Google returns advertising IDs and location history for all the Google-tracked devices in an area during a specific window of time. In the second step, police narrow the list of devices but may expand the geographic area and time window to track the movements of the devices of interest. The third step involves narrowing the list of devices further, and Google then provides detailed user info on the remaining devices.
In this era of mass incarceration and the surveillance state, most courts simply approve tech-oriented warrants without understanding what they are authorizing police to do. However, a growing number of judges are ...
by Anthony W Accurso
THe Supreme Court of Wisconsin held that the information upon which an officer relied to conduct an investigatory stop was insufficiently particularized to constitute reasonable suspicion because it consisted only a vehicle’s make – a Harley-Davidson motorcycle.
On a Saturday night in April, a sheriff’s deputy ...
by Anthony W Accurso
A California trial court held that a geofencewarrant obtained by the San Francisco PD violated the Fourth Amendment and the recently enacted California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (“CalECPA”), requiring future warrants to be more narrowly tailored.
People v. Dawes, Court No. 19002022, SW# 42739, involved ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Supreme Court of Wyoming held that a state trooper’s actions prior to observing a traffic violation rendered the traffic stop unreasonable under both the Wyoming and U.S. Constitutions.
On August 28th, 2018, Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Shane Carraher observed a black Nissan Rogue traveling eastbound ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld a suppression motion relating to the warrantless search of a home where an absconded parolee was suspected to be residing. In doing so, the Court announced that law enforcement must have probable cause that a parolee ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit ruled the plain view doctrine does not apply to a warrantless search of a vehicle where the items visible inside the vehicle by police standing outside the vehicle were not immediately and apparently incriminating.
In 2020, Detective ...
by Anthony W. Accurso
The Transportation Security Administration (“TSA”) is now using a facial recognition system to check the IDs of airline travelers at select airports to assess whether the system should be deployed nationwide.
The TSA checks are intended to enhance the safety of passengers and staff, but even ...
by Anthony Accurso
The Supreme Court of Indiana reversed the denial of a suppression motion after finding that the arresting officer failed to advise the defendant of his right to counsel prior to consenting to a search of his home, as is required by Pirtle v. State, 323 N.E.2d ...
