Recent appeals court ruling highlights the criteria officers need to consider when approaching someone in what may become a detention instead of a consensual chat. Rule of thumb: in the totality of the circumstances, would a reasonable person…

Questions asked during a lawful traffic stop in the normal time it takes to issue a citation do not unlawfully prolong the traffic stop, while placing an undercover officer in a suspect’s jail cell to record the suspect’s incriminating statements is…

While lawful possession of marijuana in a vehicle doesn’t provide probable cause for a search, unlawful possession does. In this case, the driver was a minor, and it is unlawful for him to have any amount of recreational marijuana. So, is the…

A new decision just out this year determines that prior acts of domestic violence can be admitted as predisposition evidence, and, importantly, may be proven by certified court records rather than through the in-court testimony of a victim.

An appeal decided in March 2024 argued that the word “vehicles” only means multiple vehicles. The defendant claimed since his case only involved a single stolen vehicle, the law didn’t apply. Novel argument – but sometimes those work. What do you…