Blood draws from a DUI suspect may be performed only after obtaining either a search warrant, a valid express consent, or under exigent circumstances with probable cause. The Vehicle Code’s implied consent provisions under V.C. § 23612(a)(5) do not constitute an express consent. A DUI suspect being unconscious, by itself...
A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal decision from Dec. 2023 brings us an interesting discussion of warrantless law enforcement use of prescription-drug databases, tracking warrants and what’s needed for a wiretap that will hold up in court.
Two appeals in the last quarter of 2023 reinforce California’s prosecutions of Watson murders, second-degree murder charges in cases where repeat DUI offenders knowingly drive impaired after having been warned of the dangers. The courts affirm that the defendants’ actions show “implied malice” and conscious disregard for life.
A recent Nevada appellate ruling highlights the differences in what that state’s courts consider reasonable in deadly force cases vs. what California law requires. There’s reasonable, and there’s “reasonable and necessary.” You need to know this.
We have several prior rulings offering guardrails for warrantless entry and surreptitious recordings, but this is the first case that explains the history behind the major guiding decisions, the relationship between these two important legal theories and how they work together under the Fourth Amendment.
A 2023 appellate decision explores what “inhabited” means in relation to an arson of a dwelling, and adds more detail to the understanding of custodial vs. non-custodial questioning related to Miranda. We add helpful tips for use on the street.
Free Speech Nuances: Whether a person may exercise his or her First Amendment free speech or California Speech Clause rights at a specific location depends on whether the location at issue is a public forum.
What constitutes an invocation of one’s Miranda rights is different depending on whether that attempt to invoke happens at the beginning of questioning or after a waiver of those rights.
A law enforcement officer need only have probable cause to believe a person is on active parole before that person may be searched pursuant to a parole search condition. But be careful – arbitrary, capricious or harassing parole searches are prohibited by California statutory and case law.
A person’s consent to allow officers to search his or her vehicle is not voluntary when the consent is the product of coercion. Threatening to tow the vehicle, where it would be illegal to do so, constitutes coercion.
