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Discovery of procedural and policy manuals permitted by defense

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant made a sufficient showing to get access to procedural and policy manuals relative to his search claim to prepare for suppression motion. United States v. Charles, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102918 (W.D. La. December 9, 2008): It is undisputed that the policy and procedure manuals requested are not "investigative files in an ongoing criminal investigation," as the Fifth Circuit recognizes the contours of the law enforcement privilege. In the absence of controlling authority, the undersigned will not recognized an expansion of the law enforcement privilege to include documents or manuals containing law enforcement policies and procedures. Therefore, the undersigned finds that the requested policy and procedure documents and manuals may not be withheld on the basis of the law enforcement privilege...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on December 25, 2008 (boomark / email).