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CA3: Pro se litigant gets reversal of his unreasonable search claim

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Pro se litigant wins his search claim that the officer had no justification to search his car. Gomez v. Markley, 2010 U.S. App. LEXIS 13591 (3d Cir. July 1, 2010) (unpublished)*: Thus, if we accept the facts in the light most favorable to Gomez, we would consider that Officer Markley reasonably believed that Gomez was operating a vehicle with an expired registration and without inspection stickers and was driving with a suspended license. Furthermore Gomez had explained that the address on his license was outdated. These facts do not support a finding of probable cause to search the car. Even if we were to also accept that, at some point, Gomez began acting nervously, the facts are still not sufficient to support a finding as a matter of law that Officer Markley had probable cause to believe that there were drugs in the car before he commenced his search.continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 03, 2010 (boomark / email).