Legal Update Archives - Page 12 of 19

Legal Update: United States v. Cooley

United States v. Cooley, 593 U.S. _____ (2021) On June 1, 2021, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS), in United States v. Cooley, examined the scope of American Indian tribes’ sovereign powers. In its first major opinion on the topic in decades, SCOTUS unanimously held that an Indian tribe’s police officer has the authority to temporarily detain and search a non-Indian suspected of breaking federal or state law within reservations. FACTS The defendant, Joshua […]

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Police-Press Relations: The Easy Way or the Hard Way?

Mickey H. Osterreicher, General Counsel, National Press Photographers Association, Reserve Deputy, Erie County Sheriff’s Office, New York “This is my job. This is my job. . . . I’m just doing my job. . . . I was sent here. . . . I’m a journalist.”1 This refrain was not enough to keep journalist Andrea Sahouri from being pepper-sprayed and arrested while covering a protest.

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SCOTUS: “There’s No Place Like Home”

On May 17, 2021, the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS), in Caniglia v. Strom, examined whether the “community caretaking” exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement extends to the home as it does in the motor vehicle context. SCOTUS unanimously held that it did not. Facts During an argument with his wife at their home, Edward Caniglia retrieved a handgun from the bedroom, put it

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Continued Detention After Finding of No PC – Eleventh Circuit

Today, we will head to the Sunshine State to review a case involving an OUI stop, and arrest followed by an eight-hour detention. The problem in this case arises shortly after the arrestee, Seana Barnett, arrived at the booking facility and blew a .00. This case took a circuitous path from the initial stop on March 15, 2014 to the final 11th Circuit ruling issued on April 15, 2020. And, believe it or not, the case was still not over.

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UOF Following a Pursuit and Plaintiff Safety – Third Circuit

Our case today comes to us from the Third Circuit and involves both qualified immunity and alleged excessive force. The facts of this case get a little hectic and in order to fully understand the court’s decision it is important to review how an officer is entitled to qualified immunity. When deciding if an officer is entitled to qualified immunity the officer’s actions must not violate a

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Protective Sweep/Exigent Circumstances 

Today’s case is both entertaining and enlightening. You know that saying, “You can’t make this stuff up”?  Well today’s case has some of that “stuff”.  There are of course some learning points as well in this case that are worth reviewing.  We have discussed protective sweeps in prior updates and the ability to conduct a warrantless search of a home based on exigent circumstances.  Of course, each of these exceptions to the 4th Amendment warrant requirements comes with limitations. 

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United States v. Brinkley, “Knock and Talk without Probable Cause”

Our case today comes from the Fourth Circuit. In February 2017, a federal-state task force in Charlotte, North Carolina pursued outstanding arrest warrants. Among the targets was Kendrick Brinkley, who had an outstanding arrest warrant for unlawfully possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. An ATF agent and Detective on the taskforce found Brinkley after extensive research into his addresses. Where things start to fall apart, however,

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Shooting at Moving Vehicles – Orn v. City of Tacoma

Over the last few years, several cases have arisen where officers have fired at moving vehicles. This continues to be the subject of debate among officers, legal counsel and the courts. In each case the outcome is critically dependent on the facts determined either through the police report, deposition testimony or video footage. Even though a vehicle shooting incident is highly dependent on the individual facts of that particular

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Automated License Plate Readers, LEARN – Ninth Circuit

Today’s case comes to us from the 9th Circuit and looks at issues surrounding Automated License Plate Readers (ALPR) and whether officers can access information from private databases populated by ALPR entries. The 9th Circuit describes the Vigilant Solutions LEARN (Law Enforcement Archival Reporting Network) program as a searchable database of entries from private and public sources that allow law enforcement subscribers to enter

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Show-up, ID – Eighth Circuit

Eyewitness identification practices have come under a great deal of scrutiny as we have come to learn that improper eyewitness IDs are one of the major reasons for bad convictions across the country. Bad convictions have become such an issue that organizations like the Innocence Project have had to step in help fight these injustices. The Innocence Project is a private non-profit organization that investigates claims of

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