Appeals court rulings have questioned whether spotlighting restrains a person’s freedom of movement, but the California Supreme Court has approved the use of high beams and a spotlight during a contact. As in many cases, the totality of circumstances is important.
Public speakers, signature gatherers, pamphlet deliverers, panhandlers and others exercising their First Amendment rights of expression, even if it may be deemed offensive, have legal protection from being removed. It may be wiser for police to stay out of it unless violence erupts.
A 1992 murder. Two mistrials. The trial judge dismisses the case. But in 2022, Santa Clara County prosecutors refile charges with new DNA evidence, saying the dismissal did not invoke the Fifth Amendment’s double jeopardy clause. The defendant appeals. A March 2024 decision may lead to a third trial.
Signatures are being gathered for a November ballot measure that would revise the 2014 Prop. 47 crime law. The proposed changes would elevate some thefts to felony status, allow combining the value of stolen goods for a felony charge, and require drug treatment in some cases, among other changes.
We round up the legislative action so you don’t have to. Multiple bills are proposed and being debated about issues including Miranda with minors, use of canines, pretext stops, consent searches, geofence warrants, colorimetric field drug tests and more. Get up to date here.
In this edition, we learn about a new, revamped bill that could be a major change to the auto burglary statute, and we have some fun testing our knowledge about burglary and theft statutes.
An astute LEGALUPDATES.COM reader raised questions about Penal Codes 69 and 148, and how they relate to interactions with suspects when they resist, flee or fight. We discuss the differences and overlap in this From the Classroom article.
The “Instrumentality of a Crime” doctrine applies when there is a “fair probability” or “substantial chance” that physical evidence will be found in a vehicle that was used to commit a crime. Do you need a warrant to search it? Should you get one either way?
We delve into a topic for which there is very little case law: drug-detecting dog-sniff searches of a person’s body. Case law on canine searches of cars and luggage gives us some guidance, but a current appellate case in New York may help explain what level of suspicion you need to conduct the more personal body-sniffs.
Following the important U.S. Supreme Court decision in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, aspects of the law are being challenged. Read more about this recent one.
