After a police officer observed defendant drive away from an area where gunshots had been fired, then stop his car and appear to place something under the front seat, a Roanoke U.S. District Court “readily concludes” a police officer had ...

Tagged with: Judge Samuel G. Wilson Search & Seizure U.S. District Court - Western District

Although one detective’s affidavit said a post-shooting blood trail into an appliance store led to a gun in plain view on a filing cabinet, and a second detective’s similar affidavit said the gun was inside a drawer of the filing ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Robert B. King Search & Seizure

A passenger who was ordered out of a car after a valid traffic stop could not suppress the revolver seized from his pants pocket after he assaulted a deputy, and the 4th Circuit upholds the passenger’s conviction for possession of ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Andre M. Davis Search & Seizure

A police officer summoned to a convenience store parking lot after a private security guard observed defendant with a baggie of a white substance, which defendant admitted was crack cocaine, had probable cause to arrest defendant and did not violate ...

Tagged with: Judge Randolph A. Beales Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

Voyeuristic police officers who passed around revealing photographs discovered on a defendant’s cellphone are not subject to a civil rights suit by the defendant’s girlfriend, pictured in the photos. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday rejected the appeal ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Search & Seizure

Prosecutors cannot use defendant’s statement that he owned a white pickup truck parked nearby in his drug prosecution because the detectives did not give defendant Miranda warnings, but the Norfolk U.S. District Court will wait until trial to decide whether ...

Tagged with: Judge Mark Davis Search & Seizure U.S. District Court - Eastern District

A trooper did not violate the Fourth Amendment when, after issuing a driver a warning about his window tint and questioning the driver and his passenger on matters unrelated to the traffic stop, the trooper briefly detained defendant and called ...

Tagged with: 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Paul V. Niemeyer Search & Seizure

A slate mining company cannot sue Virginia’s mine safety agency for warrantless administrative searches, says a Lynchburg U.S. District Court; although the authorizing state statute allows warrantless inspections after complaint, inspections are limited to surface mines, on complaints of health ...

Tagged with: Judge Norman K. Moon Search & Seizure U.S. District Court - Western District

Police investigators who followed defendant after observing him in a suspected drug transaction in an area known for illegal drug activity and who searched defendant’s car with his consent could be subjected to a pat-down after he repeatedly put his ...

Tagged with: Judge Walter S. Felton Jr. Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals

An experienced narcotics officer’s observation of defendant engaging in a hand-to-hand transaction involving what appeared to be crack cocaine was part of the total circumstances that provided probable cause to arrest defendant and search his vehicle, and the Court of ...

Tagged with: Judge D. Arthur Kelsey Search & Seizure Virginia Court of Appeals