THE CALIFORNIA LEGAL UPDATE
Remember 09/11/2001 | Support Our Troops | Support Our Cops
The California Legal Update - November 4, 2024
  • 9th Circuit Affirms Qualified Immunity for Officers After Bystander Injured in Pursuit Shooting
  • Ninth Circuit Rules Police K-9 Use Constituted Excessive Force in Case of Unarmed Suspect's Surrender
  • Death Penalty Case Rules on Photo Lineups, IDs, Miranda, Sixth Amendment, Speedy Trial, Racial Justice

The California Legal Update - October 14, 2024
  • Marijuana Case Brings Clarity on Open Containers in Vehicles and Whether a Warrantless Search is Lawful
  • Does it Violate Miranda to Have an Informant Question Suspect After He’s Invoked the Right to Counsel?
  • In Landmark Case, 9th Circuit Rules Against Use of Deadly Force on Non-Threatening Armed Person

The California Legal Update - September 22, 2024
  • Ninth Circuit Limits High-Risk Vehicle Stops: New Potential Liability Risks for Police
  • California Court Clarifies Rules on Prolonged and Pretextual Traffic Stops
  • Ninth Circuit ruling limits Use of Deadly Force Immunity in a Knee to the Neck and Back Case

The California Legal Update - September 1, 2024
  • Ninth Circuit Rules Parole Questions During Traffic Stops Are Constitutionally Valid
  • Ninth Circuit Rules Deadly Force Justified in the Fatal Shooting of a Knife-Wielding, Mentally Ill Man
  • To Search or Not to Search: Case Explores When it’s Lawful to Search an Impounded Car and When it’s Not

The California Legal Update - August 1, 2024
  • The legality of inventory searches of an arrestee’s personal belongings without booking
  • Court Invalidates Evidence Discovered After Group Detention Expires
  • Court Rules Forcing Parolees to Use Biometrics to Unlock Phones Is Lawful

The California Legal Update
  • Court Rules on Detentions vs. Consensual Encounters Amid Implicit Bias Concerns
  • When is the Use of Deadly Force Lawful? And Does “Legal” Equate to Right? 

The California Legal Update
  • Emerging Legal Issues in Compelling the Use of One’s Fingerprint to Open a Phone
  • Beware Explicit and Implicit Bias: The California Racial Justice Act Has No Tolerance for Racism

The California Legal Update - April 7, 2024
  • Can You Detain Non-Suspects with No Reasonable Suspicion to Believe They Are Involved in a Crime?
  • Fourth Amendment Waiver Searches: Don’t Prolong a Detention Beyond Why You First Stopped a Driver
  • More on Prolonged Detentions: Careful Not to Stray from the ‘Mission of the Traffic Stop’

The California Legal Update - March 1, 2024
  • Detentions and Consent: When Do Legal Searches Turn Illegal, and Potential Evidence Suppressed? 
  • New Case on Consent Searches When Tenants’ Wishes Conflict, and When a Suspect is “Present” to Object
  • New Decision Rules on Constitutionality of Fixed-Camera Monitoring in Public

The California Legal Update - January 21, 2024
  • New, Rare Case on Wiretaps, Prescription Databases, GPS Tracking Warrants and Wiretap Statutes
  • DUI Blood Draws and Implied vs. Express Consent, a Complex Issue

The California Legal Update - December 24, 2023
  • Free Speech, the First Amendment, and Time, Place and Manner Restrictions in Public Spaces
  • New Fourth Amendment Ruling Discusses Undercover Searches and Residential Entries While Recording
  • Deadly Force, Qualified Immunity and Civil Liability: We’re Not in California Anymore with This Case

The California Legal Update - November 30, 2023
  • Can you coerce a subject into allowing you to search his vehicle? When is consent voluntary – or not?
  • What’s the Standard for Knowing if a Suspect is Subject to a Fourth Amendment Waiver Search?
  • Miranda Invocations and Waivers: Timing Is Important When a Suspect Talks After Waiving His Rights

The California Legal Update - October 26, 2023
  • All About Pretext Stops, Unduly Long Detentions and Weapons Pat Downs: What’s Legal, from a New Ruling
  • Automobile Exception to Search Warrant Rules: In a Warrantless Search, Probable Cause Still Required 

The California Legal Update - September 23, 2023
  • Geofence Warrants – Be Specific in Time, Location and Scope of What You’re Seeking

The California Legal Update - August 21, 2023
  • Can Law Enforcement Impound a Vehicle Solely for Unpaid Parking Citations? New Case Law Clarifies
  • Use of deadly force on a suspect armed with a replica firearm
  • Exploring a Citizen’s Refusal to Cooperate, Probable Cause to Arrest Them, Use of Force and Retaliation

The California Legal Update - July 9, 2023
  • New Appellate Decision Clarifies Legal Use of Cuffs and Firearm During a Detention
  • California Supreme Court Limits Absolute Immunity for Public Employees’ Actions During Investigations
  • Appeals Ruling Clarifies What’s Needed in a DNA-Related Search Warrant Affidavit

The California Legal Update June 24, 2023
  • Convicted felons are not included in the Second Amendment’s protection of a citizen’s right to bear arms
  • Temporary DVROs: What if the subject hasn’t been served? What if they don’t know it exists?
  • Case Alert: Circuit Court Rules on the “Danger Doctrine” and How it Applies in Civil Cases

The California Legal Update - May 13, 2023
  • A geofence search warrant must particularly describe the thing or place to be searched and the property
  • The Use of Deadly force and the Duty to Warn

The California Legal Update - April 9, 2023
  • A Statute That Purports to Make Illegal the Videotaping of Police in Public Violates the 1st Amendment
  • Searches of Vehicles for Marijuana & Persons under the age of 21 may not legally possess marijuana.
  • An illegal detention may poison an otherwise lawful search under the “fruit of the poisonous tree"...

The California Legal Update, March 7, 2023
  • Prolonged Detentions and Seizure of an Item that is Lawful to Possess
  • Impoundment and Inventory Searches of an Arrestee’s Vehicle

The California Legal Update, January 29 2022
  • Spotlighting Suspect Vehicles
  • Did Detectives Dodge a Bullet? When Giving Miranda Rights in English and Spanish, Do it By the Book

The California Legal Update December 16, 2022
  • Disturbing the Peace and Refusing to Identify
  • Talking an In-Custody Suspect into Changing his Mind Concerning a Prior Invocation
  • Fourth Waiver Searches of Vehicles

The California Legal Update - November 19, 2022
  • Using a roadblock to stop a fleeing suspect is a Fourth Amendment seizure of the person
  • Prolonged Detentions and Franks Hearings

The California Legal Update - October 29, 2022
  • Gang-Tackling an Arrestee and the Issue of Excessive Force; Qualified Immunity as it Relates to...
  • Immunity From Civil Liability For Law Enforcement Officers and Agencies
  • The necessary elements of a DUI/marijuana implied malice second degree murder case

The California Legal Update - September 17, 2022
  • The Use of Social Media and a Public Employee’s Freedom of Speech
  • An officer asking to check a driver’s license at a DUI checkpoint is lawful
  • The Use by Law Enforcement of Excessive Force and Civil Liability

The California Legal Update (August, 2022)
  • Prolonged pretextual traffic stops are a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
  • Coerced Confessions and Offers of Leniency
  • Search Warrants and Probable Cause

The California Legal Update (July 2, 2022)
  • Criminal History and Warrant Checks as a part of the “Mission” of a Traffic Stop.
  • Suing federal officers under authority of Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics Agents.
  • Miranda as a Prophylactic Rule and the Fifth Amendment:

The California Legal Update (June, 2022)
  • The Fourteenth Amendment Due Process and the Use of Deadly Force
  • The First Amendment Freedom of Expression and Retaliatory Arrest

The California Legal Update - May, 2022
  • The Warrantless Seizure of an Automobile from Another’s Private Property
  • Pat Down for Weapons
  • Cruel and Unusual Punishment Imposed by Federal Correctional Officers

The California Legal Update - April 2022
  • Special Relationships and the Duty to Warn
  • Unconscious DUI Suspects and Warrantless Blood Draws
  • Turning Movements While Failing to Signal
  • The Use of Reasonable Force in Arresting Protestors Engaged in Unlawful Protests

The California Legal Update
  • Medicinal Marijuana and the Due Process Clause
  • Forfeiting a Miranda Issue by Not Objecting & The Wearing of Facemasks and the Right to Confrontation.
  • Possession of a Controlled Substance While Armed and the Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms
  • Forfeiture and Coerced Confessions

The California Legal Update
  • Illegal Detentions and Observations
  • An In-Custody Suspect’s Reinitiation of Interrogation after Repeated Invocations
  • Use of a Patrol Unit’s Digital In-Car Video System (“DICVS”) in a Police Disciplinary Proceeding

The California Legal Update
  • The Private Search Doctrine and Computerized Hashing Technology
  • Sloppy investigations and unprepared prosecutions can result in sanctions and dismissal

The California Legal Update
  • Officers Kneeling on an Arrestee’s Back and Civil Liability
  • Detaining Passengers in a Lawfully Stopped Vehicle.The Proof Requirements for Aggravating Circumstances
  • Questioning criminal suspects who are not in custody does not require a Miranda advisal or waiver.

The California Legal Updated (October 2021)
  • The Seibert Two-Step Interrogation Tactic
  • Robbery; the Force or Fear Element
  • Interrogating Minors and Beheler Admonishments

Legal Update Issue Vol 26 No. 10
  • Searches Within the Curtilage of a Home
  • Detentions, Consensual Encounters, and Patdowns for Weapons
  • Warrantless Searches of Vehicles; Searching Cellphones; Questioning In-Custody Witnesses

Issue Vol. 26 No. 9
  • Vehicle Searches and the Odor of Marijuana
  • Use of Force in Subduing an Unruly Arrestee/ The Use of Force and Civil Liability:
  • Qualified Immunity, A Suspect’s Right against Self-Incrimination, and Due Process

Issue Vol .26 No. 8
  • Fleeing Misdemeanants and Hot Pursuits by Law Enforcement
  • Resisting Arrest
  • Body Cavity Searches of Jail Inmates

Consolidated Legal Update (June 16, 2021)
  • Probation Fourth Waiver Searches & Good Faith Belief in the Existence of a Fourth Waiver
  • Searches of Vehicles Upon the Arrest of It’s Occupant
  • Residential Search Warrants
  • Questioning a Detained Suspect and the Necessity for a Miranda Admonishment and Wavier

Legal Update May 21, 2021
  • Brady Error and Suggestive Pretrial Identifications
  • Pen. Code § 148(a)(1); Resisting Arrest Pitchess Motions
  • The Community Caretaking Doctrine does not apply to the entry or search of a residence

Legal Update No. 5
  • Shooting a Fleeing Suspect as a Fourth Amendment Seizure
  • Bivens Actions and a Federal Officer’s Civil Liability
  • Leaning into a Vehicle as a Fourth Amendment Search
  • A Prostitute’s Right to Privacy and P.C. § 632

Legal Update Vol. 26 No. 4
  • Deadly Force, the Fourth Amendment, and State Negligence Allegations
  • Multiple police officers contacting persons on the street, with a police vehicle’s emergency lights
  • Miranda Violations and Civil Liability

Legal Update Vol. 26 No. 3
  • Detentions for Investigation
  • Social Media and First Amendment Freedom of Speech Rights
  • For an attorney to tell a potential victim or witness to a crime committed, or to be committed, by the

Legal Update Volume 26 No. 2
  • A Key Insertion into a Vehicle’s Door Lock as a Fourth Amendment Search
  • Booking Questions and Minors
  • Use of Force in Making an Arrest
  • Obstructing a Law Enforcement Officer in the Performance of his Duties

The California Legal Update
  • Searches of Vehicles for Marijuana
  • The Use of a Ruse by Law Enforcement
  • Private Person Searches

Legal Updates- New Issue
  • Detentions for Investigation; Bulges in a Person’s Clothing
  • Marijuana Vehicle Searches; California’s Marijuana Laws vs. Federal Law and more...
  • Warrantless Entries into Residence; The Attenuation Doctrine and Attenuation of the Taint: Fruit of ...
  • P.C. § 1538.5 Motions and Illegal Detentions: P.C. § 148(a)(1) When Perpetrated During an Unlawful ...
  • Prison Visitors’ Strip Searches

The California Legal Update
  • Writ of Habeas Corpus; Miranda Waivers; Incomplete Admonishments; Confessions & Involuntariness of ...
  • Kelly Test Requirements and Dog Scent Trailing Evidence; Foundational Requirements for Dog Scent Trailing Evidence:
  • Brady v. Maryland and Undisclosed Impeachment Evidence: Statutorily Protected Confidential Records...

THE NEW YORK UPDATE (test) doesn't show up anywhere.
  • Search Warrants and the Seizure of Electronic Devices:
  • P.C. § 148(a)(1) and Refusing to Identify Oneself
  • The Danger Doctrine and Civil Liability; Leaving a DV Victim in more danger; Qualified Immunity...