Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

CA9: 75 minute detention of abortion protestors violated Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

L.A. County S.O.'s stop of a billboard truck for driving around a middle school with pictures of an aborted fetus was arguably reasonable when it happened, but the 75 minute detention thereafter to figure out whether the driver had violated any laws was unreasonable. Also, the ticketing that did occur had no reasonable basis in the law. The officers were not entitled to qualified immunity for the 75 minute detention while they waited for a superviser to try and figure out whether plaintiffs could be charged with anything. Center for Bio-Ethical Reform v. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 13975 (9th Cir. July 2, 2008): This basis for continued detention does not comport with Fourth Amendment standards. The investigative purposes permitted by detention are ones of fact, not law...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 06, 2008 (boomark / email).