Legal Update

Certainly, there is a great deal of discussion among law enforcement, the media, and the public concerning ICE operations at large employment centers. Do undocumented workers have 4th Amendment protections in these situations and, if so, can evidence of alienage be suppressed if improperly secured by officers or ICE agents at the scene? Let’s take a look at the facts in the Cruz[1] case […]

On March 29, 2019 the Connecticut Supreme Court officially released the opinion in the matter of the State of Connecticut v. Robert John Purcell (the full opinion can be found here SC19980 ). The Connecticut Supreme Court decided whether the standard of Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452 (1994) (stating that after a defendant has been advised of his/her Miranda rights, “the police

Sergeant Joe Friday in the show Dragnet may have set the standards in 1950’s with his alleged catch phrase “just the facts, ma’am.” In 1986 the Supreme Court set a standard for officers with respect to arrest warrant affidavits. The standard set by SCOTUS in Malley v Briggs has remained with us for over 30 years and the case is still often cited to

Several months ago, a case came out of the 1st Circuit involving the arrest and search of Marquis Aiken at a hotel room in Maine. An issue arose from that case questioning whether Aiken, a non-registered guest in the motel room, was entitled to the same reasonable expectation of privacy as the registered guest. The 1st Circuit determined that, for a number of reasons,

Before we get into our current case, let’s take a look back at Graham v Connor, as the Graham factors will come into play in Glasscox v. City of Argo. In Graham, the plaintiff (Graham) was suffering from a diabetic reaction but police believed he may have been involved in suspicious behavior at a drug store. During the ensuing investigative detention, officers used force

In 2018, a case came out of the 7th Circuit[1] involving a wrongful death lawsuit filed against two Neenah police officers who shot and killed Michael Funk, an armed hostage, during a 2015 armed standoff. Neenah police officers Craig Hoffer and Robert Ross shot Funk after he escaped Eagle Nation Cycles where he and two others were being held hostage by gunman Brian Flatoff.