A strong odor of burnt marijuana emanating from inside a motor vehicle provides probable cause to search that vehicle under the “automobile exception.” The fact that the occupants of the car were under the age of 21 insures the legality of a search of the vehicle for the source of the marijuana odor.
A private person videotaping law enforcement officers in public, while the officers are in the performance of their duties, is a First Amendment right. As such, a state statute attempting to criminalize the act of videotaping an officer while acting in the performance of his or her duties is unconstitutional.
Impounding and conducting an inventory search of an arrestee’s vehicle is lawful only if in compliance with the Community Caretaking Doctrine and an agency’s inventory search policies.
Seizing a key from a suspect’s belt loop which is unrelated to the cause of the detention and using that key in an unrelated investigation violates the Fourth Amendment.
The state Supreme Court ruled in November on various Miranda issues raised in the case of a Spanish-speaking defendant convicted of murder and multiple attacks on women. The defendant sought to toss his conviction after detectives gave muddled and confusing bilingual Miranda admonitions in three interviews over four days.
A police officer using his spotlight to illuminate the inside of a person’s car is not a detention absent additional factors that would indicated to a reasonable person that he is not free to leave.
Using a passenger’s Fourth Waiver as justification for a vehicle search requires a balancing of the likelihood that contraband was secreted in the area searched with the vehicle owner’s privacy interests.
Once an in-custody suspect invokes his Miranda rights, it is improper for a police interrogator to say anything that could be interpreted as “badgering” the suspect into changing his mind.
Yelling at a person while calling them names constitutes a violation of Pen. Code § 415(2); Disturbing the Peace. A detainee refusing to identify himself to a peace officer may be a violation of Pen. Code § 148(a)(1).
A detention during a traffic stop lawfully includes the time it takes an officer to complete the mission of the traffic stop. A hearing to challenge material omissions in a search warrant requires the defendant to first make a substantial preliminary showing that such an omission exists
