Intrusive body cavity searches of jail inmates may be unlawful, depending upon the availability of a less intrusive means of determining whether the inmate is hiding contraband in her body.
An officer’s illegal detention or arrest, and/or his or her use of unreasonable force, negates the necessary element of a resisting arrest charge per P.C. §§ 69 and/or 148(a)(1) that the officer acted in the performance of his or her duty.
The hot pursuit by law enforcement of a fleeing misdemeanant into his home, absent an exigency above and beyond the flight itself, violates the Fourth Amendment.
A suspect is in custody for purposes of Miranda and must be advised of his Miranda rights whenever the police, in questioning him, have created a police dominated atmosphere.
With probable cause to believe a felon possesses a firearm in his residence, including a request for “any firearm” in the affidavit does not render the warrant “overbroad.”
Upon arresting the occupant of a motor vehicle, the warrantless search of the vehicle is lawful under either or both of two legal theories; i.e., the automobile exception and incident to arrest.
A warrantless vehicle search based up a passenger’s Fourth waiver is valid, as are searches based upon an officer’s good faith believe in the existence of a valid Fourth waiver.
The “Community Caretaking Doctrine,” created to justify warrantless entries into impounded automobiles for a non-criminal investigative purpose, does not justify the warrantless entry into a residence or seizure of firearms therein.
The term “willfully,” for purposes of P.C. § 148(a)(1), Resisting Arrest, requires only that a reasonable person would have understood that the person resisted was a peace officer.
Pitchess discovery is inappropriate absent a showing by the defendant of the materiality of the requested information.
An in-court identification of a defendant by a witness is not necessarily tainted by a suggestive pre-trial photo identification. Brady error does not necessarily result in a new trial where the error is immaterial.
