Criminal Law

Improperly extended stop [NOT FINAL]
I, along with Washburn student intern Hansel Cordeiro, won in State v. Fitzpatrick, No. 96,702 (Kan. App. Jan. 25, 2008)(unpublished), reversing a Johnson County drug conviction. There were lots of claims regarding several stages of a car stop and resulting search of the back-seat passenger...

Tenth Finds Reasonable Suspicion to Stop Truck, Reversing District Court's Grant of Motion
U.S. v. Lopez, --- F.3d ----, 2008 WL 570802 (10th Cir. March 04, 2008) The 10th reverses the district court suppression of drugs found after police stopped Defendant?s truck. Even though the stop of the truck for a violation of a traffic law was not justified, there was reasonable suspicion to stop it based upon the officer?s observations of activity involving the Defendant and others before Defendant drove onto the freeway (the cop had radioed others to find a traffic infraction for which to stop Defendant?s truck)...

Probably Not a Good Way to Avoid Reasonable Suspicion:
From United States v. Robinson, an unpublished 11th Circuit decision last week on whether the police had reasonable suspicion to prolong a traffic stop for a few minutes given their...

A Gamble that Didn't Pay Off: Detention Following Traffic Stop Justified by Reasonable Suspicion
US v. Thao, No. 07-8066, no WL citation yet (August 7, 2008) (unpublished):State trooper stopped out of state SUV for allegedly going 79 mph in a 75 mph zone. Trooper had reasonable suspicion for continued detention based on: (1) defendants claimed they had gone from Minneapolis to Reno for a quick gambling trip, but there were 500-700 unaccounted for miles; (2) the driver, Lor, was not authorized to drive the vehicle; (3) the SUV was rented by a third party who was not present on the trip; (4) the defendants said this third party lived in Minnesota, but documents indicated he was from Wisconsin; (5) unusual and increasing nervousness; (6) inconsistent stories about visiting family and friends in Reno, vis-a-vis gambling; and (7) a lack of luggage (there was a laundry basket full of clothes)...

How much investigation does it take to give a parking ticket [NOT FINAL]
Washburn student intern (now Salina PD) Andrew Parmenter and I won in State v. Gross, No. 97,444 (Kan. App. June 6, 2008), reversing a Sedgwick County drug conviction. Officers saw a car stop too close to a drive way and saw the driver start to walk away...

Divided NC SCT Rejects Suppression Of Evidence
On Friday, in a criminal case implicating the Fourth Amendment's prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures, the NC Supreme Court split on an issue that had divided the Court of Appeals (COA) below: whether a defendant's 30-second delay at a traffic intersection after the light turned green gave rise to a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the defendant was engaged in criminal activity (namely that he was driving while impaired), thus justifying a traffic stop, which resulted in the police finding drugs...

How to Stop Home Foreclosure
Bankruptcy can Stop Foreclosure

Pennsylvania Juvenille Detention
Judges Face Class Action

Cipro
The FDA is seeking to add black box warnings of the risk of tendon rupture associated with Cipro and Levaquin. The ruptures can involve Achilles tendon, shoulder, hand, bicep or thumb tendons, and is especially increased in patients older than 60, or people who have received kidney, heart or lung transplants, as well as people on steroid therapy...