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That defendant may have had a pocket knife didn’t mean he was false when he said he had no weapons on him because small pocket knives are not considered weapons to most people. Defendant’s frisk was without reasonable suspicion he was armed. United States v. House, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6081 (10th Cir. March 23, 2012) (unpublished):

It is likely that many law-abiding citizens would not consider themselves armed with a weapon, while carrying a folded pocket knife, when approached on the street and questioned unexpectedly by an officer. To allow a search based on the hunch that a citizen walking down the street is illegally carrying a firearm, without more, serves to erode the precious protections of the Second and Fourth Amendments. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 22 ("[I]ntrusions upon constitutionally guaranteed rights based on nothing more substantial than inarticulate hunches [are] a result this Court has consistently refused to sanction.").

An officer is free to initiate a consensual encounter without any articulable suspicion. Such an encounter may develop previously unconfirmed suspicions of criminal behavior and/or result in genuine concerns for officer safety. United States v. Jones, 606 F.3d 964, 968 (8th Cir. 2010). The difficulty in this case is that the consensual encounter did neither; in the absence of which, the evidence must be suppressed as violative of the Fourth Amendment.

Statue of Liberty: Part 2, 5-17-10

Rick Santorum won Saturday's Republican presidential primary in Louisiana by winning close to a majority of the vote. Santorum took 10 of the 20 delegates at stake while rival Mitt Romney picked up five, CNN estimates.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney had a heart transplant Saturday and is recovering at a Virginia hospital, his office said.

An aide to Cheney disclosed that the 71-year-old, who has had a long history of cardiovascular trouble including numerous heart attacks, had been waiting for a transplant ...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney was recovering Saturday evening after undergoing heart transplant surgery, his office said.

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say a Florida man is charged with threatening the police chief who had been overseeing the investigation into the shooting death of an unarmed black teen by a neighborhood watch captain.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office says John Carnduff Stewart of Melbourne Beach emailed Sanford ...

A commercial vehicle safety stop was valid, and defendant’s lack of knowledge about his load, where he got it, and exactly where he was going was reasonable suspicion to detain him for a dog sniff. The USMJ concluded that the trailer was unlawfully searched but a drug dog alert after that was inevitable discovery because that was probable cause. United States v. Rendon, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5974 (11th Cir. March 22, 2012) (unpublished).*

The testimony of consent was conflicting, but the credibility determination of the trial court is binding on appeal. State v. Reglus, 2012 Ohio 1174, 2012 Ohio App. LEXIS 1033 (9th Dist. March 21, 2012)* (sustaining consent); State v. Durden, 2012 Ohio 1194, 2012 Ohio App. LEXIS 1048 (8th Dist. March 22, 2012) (finding consent involuntary).

The trial court concluded that the officer’s car blocked defendant’s car and was a stop, but it was with reasonable suspicion. State v. Spradlin, 2012 Ohio 1211, 2012 Ohio App. LEXIS 1071 (5th Dist. March 12, 2012).*

An affidavit for search warrant that showed utterly no connection to the place to be searched lacked probable cause. And, it was so lacking in probable cause that the good faith exception did not apply. United States v. Bautista, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 39222 (W.D. Ky. March 22, 2012):

To establish probable cause, the affidavit must have indicated why evidence of illegal activity would be found at the particular place to be search-Lot #78. The affidavit does not do so. Like in Laughton, the affidavit in this case neither indicated that Lot # 78 was Bautista's residence nor indicated that the drug sales described by Copeland occurred at Lot # 78. Instead, the affidavit states only that the drug sales occurred at Bautista's residence, and then lists Lot # 78 as the place to be searched. The government contends that, given all the circumstances of Copeland's information and the detailed description of the place to be searched, the inference can be made Lot #78 is Bautista's residence. However, the government's argument is to no avail because the affidavit contains no evidence from which such an inference could be made. The single paragraph setting forth the factual details fails to even mention Lot #78. Accordingly, probable cause to search the residence located at Lot #78 was not established because the affidavit submitted to obtain the warrant did not explain the significance or the relevance of searching the home located at this particular location. See United States v. Hove, 848 F.2d 137, 139 (9th Cir. 1988) (finding no probable cause where the affidavit failed to provide any nexus between the residence and the illegal activity).

. . .

Likewise, here, the affidavit simply lists an address of the premises to be searched, and states Copeland's allegations regarding the fact that he regularly purchased methamphetamine from Bautista at his home. There is not even a "modicum of evidence" linking the criminal activity described by Copeland and Lot #78. Cf. United States v. Van Shutters, 163 F.3d 331, 337 (6th Cir. 1998) (applying good faith exception where affidavit for search warrant neglected to indicate why the affiant believed the defendant had any connection to the residence, but did state that the rooms in the residence were available to the defendant). Importantly, the affidavit did not state any evidence linking Bautista to Lot #78 and did not even state that Bautista resided at Lot #78. No reasonable officer could have believed that the affidavit was not so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to be reliable. Although the Court does not find that the law enforcement officers acted in bad faith, it nonetheless must conclude that the Leon good faith exception does not apply.

A citizen informant’s report that his store was a crime victim was a sufficient basis for a stop. State v. Wiggins, 2012 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 178 (March 20, 2012).

Factual disputes on excessive force as shown by the video was enough to deny qualified immunity. Staten v. Tatom, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 5991 (5th Cir. March 22, 2012).*

Appellate counsel’s decision not to appeal the alleged lack of probable cause for the search warrant was justified because it was a loser issue. Ford v. United States, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38296 (E.D. Mo. March 21, 2012).*

Roland Martin says if the boy had been white and wearing a hoodie, he would not have been a threat to be shot down. His death should renew the battle against bigotry

Ahead of a U.S. Supreme Court review of the health care reform law that many Republicans call "Obamacare," and a day after the law's two-year anniversary, Sen. Mitch McConnell used the GOP weekly address Saturday to hammer President Barack Obama over the measure.

The latest twist in the tug of war over Department of Justice documents central to the investigation of Operation Fast and Furious came Friday evening, when a top Justice official refused a congressional request for subpoenaed documents and blamed GOP lawmakers over the leaking of sensitive information.

President Barack Obama travels to South Korea Saturday on a three-day trip centered on an international nuclear security summit in Seoul.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia mayor says no smoke detector was working when a fire erupted inside a home, killing six children and two adults in what he says is the city's deadliest fire in six decades.

Charleston Mayor Danny Jones tells the Associated Press only one smoke ...

Bomb Iran now because...uh, what's the reason? 10-9-09

It was reasonable to arrest plaintiff with probable cause on a controlled delivery because he signed for the package with a fictitious first name for him. This was more than mere acceptance of the package known by the police to carry drugs. He left the house with the package and got into a car with the package, and that gave probable cause to search the car [citing search incident cases, which was wrong; automobile exception applied]. Johnson v. United States, 2012 D.C. App. LEXIS 130 (March 22, 2012).*

Defendant was stopped for a seat belt violation, and reasonable suspicion developed from numerous factors, one of which was that defendant was a known drug trafficker who made a five hour trip to a store and didn’t buy anything. State v. Fisher, 2012 N.C. App. LEXIS 386 (March 20, 2012).*

Fourth Amendment issue raised on direct appeal and rejected was not a proper subject of a 2255. Martinez v. United States, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36781 (D. S.D. March 19, 2012).*

The Revitalized Eugenics Movement and the FDA's Role, 8-12-11

Rhode Island's treasurer Gina Raimondo talks about how she persuaded the voting public, labor rank-and-file and a liberal legislature to pass the most far-reaching pension reform in decades.

Lee Sandlin reviews "David Goodis: Five Noir Novels of the 1940s and 50s" and "The Complete Slayers" featuring the short fiction of Paul Cain.

Marshaling evidence from the Roman Empire to modern Europe, "Why Nations Fail" argues that a lack of sustained democracy and capitalism hinders the development of countries.