Three-Hour Detention Was Unlawful Custody

Suppression Order Reversed in Meth-Lab Case

By Deborah Elkins
Published: May 16, 2013
Tags: Judge Robert P. Frank, Search & Seizure, Virginia Court of Appeals

A deputy who accompanied a social worker to a home to investigate the possible presence of children in a methamphetamine-manufacturing site had probable cause and exigent circumstances to enter the home, after observing items used to manufacture the drug in a burn pile outside the home and hearing movement inside when the deputy knocked at [...]

Police Entry at ‘Home Study’ Visit Illegal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: April 22, 2013
Tags: Judge D. Arthur Kelsey, Search & Seizure, Virginia Court of Appeals

Police called as backup when a social worker planned to visit defendant’s home to conduct a custody-related home study did not have probable cause to enter defendant’s home and the marijuana and guns found in plain view in the home should have been suppressed, the Court of Appeals says, as it reverses defendant’s conviction for [...]

‘Warning’ Stop OK for Texting Driver

By Deborah Elkins
Published: March 28, 2013
Tags: Judge Henry E. Hudson, Search & Seizure, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A police officer could stop defendant and warn him against texting while driving, even if the officer could only issue a citation for the conduct as a secondary offense; it was reasonable to stop defendant for swerving into the officer’s lane of travel, and the Richmond U.S. District Court accepts the magistrate judge’s recommendation and [...]

Guns Admitted from ‘Storage Shed’ Pickup

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 27, 2013
Tags: Judge James P. Jones, Search & Seizure, U.S. District Court - Western District

An Abingdon U.S. District Court denies defendant’s motion to suppress firearms seized by police from a pickup truck parked on a neighbor’s property and used by multiple persons as a “community storage shed”; the court rejects defendant’s claims that the search exceeded the scope of the warrant and that the charges violate her Second Amendment [...]

Detention Illegal for Gas-Station Group

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 26, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Roger L. Gregory, Search & Seizure

Even assuming the initial encounter between a group of uniformed police officers and a group of five men congregated at a gas station was consensual, the officers’ increasing show of authority, immediate seizure of one man’s gun and frisk of the men in the group and seizure of defendant’s ID, quickly changed the encounter to [...]

Wait for Drug Dog OK after Traffic Stop

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 25, 2013
Tags: Judge Robert J. Smith, Search & Seizure, U.S. District Court - Eastern District

Although a defendant stopped for a broken license plate lights says the stop took 37 minutes, the officer’s in-vehicle video camera and the narcotics audio channel transmissions indicate the stop took 16 minutes until a police dog alerted to the car, and the Newport News U.S. District Court denies defendant’s motion to suppress cocaine found [...]

Grenade in Closet Not ‘Exigent Circumstances’

By Deborah Elkins
Published: February 25, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker, Search & Seizure

Exigent circumstances did not justify an officer’s warrantless entry into a locked closet in the home of a man who had been removed from the home in response to a domestic violence call; the 4th Circuit said a report by the man’s wife that he kept a grenade in the closet was not enough to [...]

Bare-Chested TSA Protest May Be Protected

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 29, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Roger L. Gregory, Search & Seizure

A young man who protested TSA screening at Richmond International Airport by stripping down to running shorts to reveal the text of the Fourth Amendment across his bare chest may sue TSA officials for allegedly violating his First Amendment rights by calling airport security to arrest him; the 4th Circuit upholds a district court decision [...]

Stop of Trespass Suspect Was Legal

By Deborah Elkins
Published: January 23, 2013
Tags: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, Search & Seizure

A police officer was justified in stopping defendant as he walked away from a convenience store parking lot, based on the store owner’s written request for enforcement of trespass laws in this high-crime area and defendant quickly walking away when the officer spoke, and the 4th Circuit upholds the stop and defendant’s conviction as a [...]