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Are the police "unbiased witnesses"? Apparently not.

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

In a rare statement, a U.S. District Court holds that police officers are not universally unbiased witnesses, in the course of finding no probable cause for defendant's search. United States v. Morse, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8485 (E.D. Wis. January 4, 2008): To the contrary, given human nature, the fact that Cunning had no criminal record and the fact that there is no evidence that Cunning had committed any crime on the evening in question would suggest it to be more likely that Cunning would make certain that he stopped at the intersection, knowing full well that he was being followed by the officers. As to the government's contention that as Morse's friend, Cunning, was a biased witness, the court finds the police officers to have an equal bias in favor of upholding the validity of their stop...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).