An officer kneeling on an armed arrestee’s back for a limited time in order to facilitate the handcuffing of the arrestee, while preventing him from reaching for a knife, does not prevent the officer from claiming qualified immunity from civil liability.
To constitute a robbery, it must be proved that the victim himself gave up personal property out of fear. It is insufficient that a reasonable person, in the same or similar circumstances, would have been afraid.
It is Sixth Amendment violation to place an undercover officer into a jail cell with an already charged defendant for the purpose of pumping that defendant for incriminating statements. Intentional Miranda violations will result in the suppression of any statements made by the defendant... read more
The use of a two-step interrogation tactic, obtaining a full un-Mirandized confession before seeking a Miranda waiver and a second confession, precludes a finding that the waiver was knowingly and intelligently made.
A detained individual may be subjected to a patdown for weapons only when there is a reasonable suspicion to believe that he may be armed. A full body search requires probable cause to believe the subject possesses contraband or other evidence of a crime.
The Automobile Exception to the search warrant requirement allows for the warrantless search of a vehicle when officers have probable cause to believe it contains evidence of a crime. Searching cellphones requires a search warrant. Miranda does not apply to the questioning of an in-custody witness while not expecting him...
Warrantless searches within the curtilage of one’s home must be supported by both probable cause and exigent circumstances.
Officers are entitled to qualified immunity from civil liability unless the rules violated are clearly established. A confession after a clear and unequivocal invocation of one’s right to counsel is inadmissible at trial. Interrogation tactics that “shock the conscience” are a Fourteenth Amendment Due Process violation.
A police officer’s use of force against a resisting arrestee must be “objectively reasonable” under the circumstances to be lawful, taking into account the surrounding circumstances.
With probable cause to believe a vehicle contains contraband or other evidence of a crime, the vehicle and any containers found therein may be searched without a search warrant.
