Articles Posted in Search and Seizure

In British football, a player can commit a foul which is technical and the other team gets a free kick, and everyone keeps playing. More serious fouls can result in a yellow card (two in a game and you are off the field) or a red card which means immediate removal from the field. Well,…

MCIO ‘ware. It still doesn’t protect your phone, especially if you give consent–but what the heck, it’s something. NACDL Press Release: Nation’s Criminal Defense Bar Welcomes Passage by House of Representatives of the Email Privacy Act Washington, DC (Feb. 6, 2017) – Today, the House of Representatives passed the Email Privacy Act (H.R. 387). This…

We have all been there. The unsophisticated suspect consents to the taking a search of their cell phone or computers. Or, the MCIO get a search authorization. Then investigators basically go on a fishing expedition for evidence of the current allegations, and anything else they can find–justifying anything else found on the “plain view” doctrine.…

Check the warrant, or in the military the search authorization. The recent decision of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals in a government appeal tells you why it’s important to check the warrant. In United States v. Gurzynski, the court had before it a government appeal of a military judge’s decision to suppress evidence of…

On 20 May 2016, the President, exercising his powers under UCMJ art. 36, signed an executive order amending the Manual for Courts-Martial. Changes to the rules of evidence are included. It was a change to Rule 311 that has draw significant attention and discussion among the UCMJ literati. Basically, a military judge grants suppression when…

How many times do we see the private search as an issue. The upset spouse searches the computer to find evidence of infidelity, the Sailor’s friend or roommate comes across contraband CP on a computer and looks further, etc., etc., etc. A responsible law enforcer would take the information to get a search warrant or…

Several relevant items for you this weekend. Orin Kerr has this post at The Volokh Conspiracy. In part: Computer searches usually happen in two stages. Agents take the computer, make a mirror image copy of its hard drive on a government storage device, and then search the image. Officers do this to ensure the integrity…

[D]istrict courts generally enjoy a fair amount of discretion in choosing the procedures they find most helpful for resolving pretrial motions, including whether to take the matter on the briefs, hear oral argument, or hold an evidentiary hearing. And often enough courts will choose to err on the side of granting more process than might…