News

CA10: Off-duty officer from another city working bar security was not government actor for Fourth Amendment

FourthAmendment.com - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09

A police officer from another city working plain clothes at a bar with a t-shirt with “Security” on the back who found a gun was not a state actor at the time of employment. The record was clear he was serving the interests of the bar and not the police, and he called the police to “sort it out” after the encounter. United States v. Cintron, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11308 (10th Cir. June 5, 2012):

The OK Corral Club, not the Boley Police Department, hired and paid Mr. Reed for his security guard work at the club. Not all security team members were off-duty police officers. As for the members of OK Corral's security staff who were off-duty police officers, the OK Corral Club hired them and did not rely on official assistance from the police department. See Traver v. Meshriy, 627 F.2d 934, 938 (9th Cir. 1980) (holding that off-duty police officer working as security teller at a bank was a state actor when that position was part of a "secondary hiring" program and the security teller's "primary duty was to the [police] department, not to the bank").

Mr. Reed was not wearing his police uniform, did not have his badge, and never identified himself as a police officer. See Lusby v. T.G. & Y. Stores, Inc., 749 F.2d 1423, 1429-30 (10th Cir. 1984) (holding that off-duty police officer working as a store security guard was acting under color of state law when he flashed his badge, identified himself as a police officer, and arrested the alleged shoplifter on the spot), vacated on other grounds,City of Lawton, Okla. v. Lusby, 474 U.S. 805 (1985).

At the suppression hearing, Mr. Reed explained that he was working to further the interests of the OK Corral Club, not those of the police department. ... "Well, yeah, but I don't [enforce the laws] there. I just ... protect and keep the staff and the property safe over there. It's not a matter of me really enforcing the laws over there. We just look out for the safety over there." Id. at 34-35. He also explained that had he been acting as a police officer, he would have acted differently and would have "put [Mr. Cintron] on the ground." Id. at 32.

Finally, Mr. Reed did not formally arrest Mr. Citron. ...

Under the facts, it probably wouldn't make any difference, either.

Tsunami dock washes up in Oregon

BBC - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
A huge concrete dock torn from a Japanese port by last year's tsunami washes up some 8,000 km (5,000 miles) away in the US state of Oregon.
Categories: BBC, News

S.D.Ohio: Where car was validly impounded, difficulty in recovering it isn't a Fourth Amendment claim

FourthAmendment.com - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09

Plaintiff’s car was validly towed to impound because she was hospitalized after an accident. She had difficulty in regaining her vehicle, and she sued for $500B. “Plaintiff's claims do not appear to challenge the actual seizure of her vehicle, but instead focus on her inability to regain possession of her vehicle. Plaintiff's interest in regaining her vehicle, however, is outside the scope of the Fourth Amendment. See Fox v. Van Oosterum, 176 F.3d 342, 351 (6th Cir. 1999) (‘[T]he Fourth Amendment protects an individual’s interest in retaining possession of property but not the interest in regaining possession of property.’).” Mathis v. Dep't of Pub. Safety, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76780 (S.D. Ohio June 4, 2012).

Defendant was possibly speeding and hastily exited from a freeway, but the officer didn’t stop the defendant. He followed him home. Defendant got out of his van and went onto his porch and the officer followed. The attempted stop on defendant’s porch was without reasonable suspicion of any wrongdoing other than the alleged traffic offense, and that wasn’t good enough. Defendant testified that he did not know there was a police officer in the car because it was unmarked. “Sgt. Norman followed and grabbed Defendant by the back of his coat. Defendant pulled away and continued behind the house. At this point, uniformed officers appeared on the property, and they tasered, handcuffed and arrested Defendant.” The search that relieving him of his gun was unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Walker, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76781 (S.D. Ohio June 4, 2012).*

D.Md.: “[T]he age of the information supporting a warrant is increasingly irrelevant when the object searched is stored on a computer.”

FourthAmendment.com - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09

14 month old information in a child pornography case is not stale. More importantly, it seems that computer forensics makes staleness almost irrelevant: “the age of the information supporting a warrant is increasingly irrelevant when the object searched is stored on a computer.” United States v. Johnson, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77808 (D. Md. June 5, 2012)

Additionally, the ability of forensic examiners to recover files from a computer—even those deleted by a user—impacts a court's staleness analysis. Since evidence on a computer is recoverable months or years after it has been downloaded, deleted, or viewed; the age of the information supporting a warrant is increasingly irrelevant when the object searched is stored on a computer. See, e.g., Gourde, 440 F.3d at 1071 ("Having paid for multi-month access to a child pornography site, Gourde was also stuck with the near certainty that his computer would contain evidence of a crime had he received or downloaded images in violation of § 2252. Thanks to the long memory of computers, any evidence of a crime was almost certainly still on his computer, even if he had tried to delete the images. FBI computer experts, cited in the affidavit, stated that 'even if ... graphic image files [] have been deleted ... these files can easily be restored.' In other words, his computer would contain at least the digital footprint of the images."); United States v. Toups, No. 2:06-cr-112-MEF, 2007 WL 433562, at *4 (M.D. Ala. February 6, 2007) ("Further bolstering the conclusion that the staleness calculation is unique when it comes to cases of Internet child pornography is the images and videos stored on a computer are not easily eliminated from a computer's hard drive. The mere deletion of a particular file does not necessarily mean that the file cannot later be retrieved.").

Note: The court also notes that no case it could find had ever found staleness in a CP case.

Water meter call over shortages

BBC - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
Water meters that charge for using extra supplies on cars and gardens are needed to avoid shortages, experts say.
Categories: BBC, News

Kidman, Sorvino urge end to violence against women

AP - World News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Mira Sorvino urged an end to violence against women at a concert Wednesday night to support the U.N. agency that promotes equality for women and an end to attacks against millions of women and girls....

Kidman, Sorvino urge end to violence against women

AP - World News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman and Mira Sorvino urged an end to violence against women at a concert Wednesday night to support the U.N. agency that promotes equality for women and an end to attacks against millions of women and girls....

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Ark. teen who shot sleeping sister gets 45 years

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (AP) -- An Arkansas teen pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering his sleeping sister and was sentenced to 45 years in prison for a crime he still hasn't fully explained....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

GP practices scored out of 10

BBC - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
Patients will be able to compare scores of GP practices in their local area as new patient experience ratings are published on the NHS Choices website.
Categories: BBC, News

Shock therapy used on Autistic kids

CNN - Top Stories - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
Anderson Cooper and Tom Foreman discuss when the FDA will rule on a shock therapy device used in a controversial school.
Categories: CNN, News

CT scans 'can raise cancer risk'

BBC - News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
Multiple CT scans in childhood can triple the risk of developing brain cancer or leukaemia, a study suggests.
Categories: BBC, News

New NKorean leader stages massive children's rally

AP - World News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un made his second speech at a major public event since taking power in December, addressing a children's rally aimed at winning a new generation's support....

New NKorean leader stages massive children's rally

AP - World News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) -- North Korea's young leader Kim Jong Un made his second speech at a major public event since taking power in December, addressing a children's rally aimed at winning a new generation's support....

Natasha Trethewey named 19th US poet laureate

AP - U.S. News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Pulitzer Prize winner is the nation's first poet laureate to hail from the South since the initial one - Robert Penn Warren - was named by the Library of Congress in 1986....
Categories: Associated Press, News, US

Chinese police raid religious school; 12 kids hurt

AP - World News - Tue, 2025-05-20 03:09
BEIJING (AP) -- State media reported that staff at a religious school in heavily Muslim far western China set off explosives to fend off a police raid and that 12 children were burned. An overseas rights group, however, blamed tear gas used by paramilitary forces for the injuries....
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