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TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- In the quest to figure out what happened to Susan Powell in 2009, Utah authorities compiled a heap of evidence - finding blood in the family home, an eerie hand-written "will" and a young son who bluntly said that mom was dead....

British scientists are working on an international study to see if captivity increases the chance of heart disease in apes.

CHICAGO (AP) -- Maryland lottery officials announced early Saturday that their state sold what could become the world's largest lottery payout of all-time, but it wasn't immediately clear if that ticket holder would get sole possession of the $640 million jackpot or have to split it with other winners....

The passing of a bill in Turkey allowing parents to move their children into Islamic schools earlier prompts scuffles in parliament.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) -- A cruise ship with about 1,000 people on board was drifting in waters south of the Philippines after a fire disabled its engines, the Philippine coast guard said Saturday. Five crew members were injured....

CHICAGO (AP) -- Maryland lottery officials announced early Saturday their state sold what could become the world's largest lottery payout of all-time, but it wasn't immediately clear if that ticket holder would get sole possession of the $640 million jackpot or have to split it with other winners....

Bad search where officer’s testimony was clearly designed to skirt the constitution was not attenuated from a later search. United States v. Roberts, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42752 (E.D. Pa. March 28, 2012):

The Fourth Amendment protects "against unreasonable searches and seizures." Faced with a motion to suppress, the Government bears the burden of demonstrating the reasonableness of a warrantless search or seizure. United States v. Johnson, 63 F.3d 242, 245 (3d Cir. 1995). Here, the Government relied only on the testimony of Officer Kostick to meet its burden as to the October 7th search of Roberts and his van. As discussed supra, we do not believe Kostick's story. The objective physical facts, which are not subject to the biases of humans, prove his testimony to be false. We find his entire sequence of events (excessively tinted windows -> traffic stop -> failure to comply with commands -> drugs in plain view on the door -> gun in plain view on the floor) a fabrication, carefully constructed to stay just within the constraints of the Fourth Amendment. As such, the Government has not demonstrated the reasonableness of the October 7, 2010 traffic stop and subsequent search. This stop and search violated James Roberts' Fourth Amendment rights, and we have suppressed the evidence recovered during that search accordingly. (See Doc. No. 41).

Now we must tackle the difficult question of whether this Fourth Amendment violation taints the fruits of the December 21st search to which Roberts consented. Roberts contends it does, while the Government argues that time and intervening events have purged the taint. Because of the flagrancy of the constitutional violation that occurred here, we must agree with Roberts. Time cannot heal all wounds, and it cannot heal this one.

Papers reflect on the political week that was

Attenuation proved: First search October 7th, second search December 21st; Davis must be considered. United States v. Roberts, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42752 (E.D. Pa. March 28, 2012)*:

Not all Fourth Amendment violations warrant the suppression of evidence. The Amendment itself says nothing about suppression; rather, the exclusionary rule is a "prudential" doctrine with a singular purpose — to deter future Fourth Amendment violations. Davis v. United States, 131 S. Ct. 2419, 2426 (2011) (citation omitted). And as the Supreme Court recently reiterated, "real deterrent value" is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for exclusion. Id. at 2427. Instead, we balance the hard-to-quantify social costs of exclusion (suppressing the truth) against its benefits (deterring police misconduct) and exclude the challenged evidence only when the latter outweighs the former. See id. at 2427-28 (cautioning that "[p]olice practices trigger the harsh sanction of exclusion only when they are deliberate enough to yield 'meaningful' deterrence, and culpable enough to be 'worth the price paid by the justice system.'") (citation omitted). Since we, as a society, have a compelling interest in deterring flagrant police misconduct, the more egregious the violation, the more likely it justifies exclusion. See id. (recognizing that "the deterrence benefits of exclusion 'vary with the culpability of the law enforcement conduct' at issue."). Importantly, our exclusionary rule analysis must account for the conduct of all the officers involved. See Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. 135, 140 (2009) ("In analyzing the applicability of the [exclusionary] rule, Leon admonished that we must consider the actions of all the police officers involved.").

. . .

On this particular point, we agree with the Government. As discussed supra, the point of the exclusionary rule is to deter police misconduct. The attenuation factors, including "temporal proximity" and "intervening circumstances," are really just clues that help us determine whether the benefits of suppressing certain evidence outweigh the costs. Here, the conduct we wish to deter is Officer Kostick's, not that of the agents who ultimately arrested Roberts on December 21st. Therefore, our purging-the-taint inquiry must center on the events of October 7th. The Defendant implicitly recognizes this, focusing entirely on Officer Kostick's conduct in discussing the "purpose and flagrancy" prong of the attenuation analysis. ...

Using October 7th as the starting point, the "temporal proximity" and "intervening circumstances" attenuation factors weigh against suppressing the fruits of the consensual December 21st search, but only slightly. As the Government points out, over two (2) months elapsed between Officer Kostick's search and Roberts' consent. Apparently, Roberts was not in police custody during this time. In addition, the agents who obtained Roberts' consent are different from the officer who committed the earlier illegality. All of this distances the December 21st search from the October 7th violation.

The affidavit twice used “recently” to describe when the officer learned of information from the CI. Coupled with a showing that this was an ongoing drug operation, that was enough to overcome staleness. Jones v. State, 2012 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 500 (March 28, 2012):

We have suggested that time is a less important consideration when an affidavit recites observations that are consistent with ongoing drug activity at a defendant's residence.33 We quoted from United States v. Johnson, in which the Tenth Circuit explained: "Where the affidavit recites a mere isolated violation it would not be unreasonable to imply that probable cause dwindles rather quickly with the passage of time. However, where the affidavit properly recites facts indicating activity of a protracted and continuous nature, a course of conduct, the passage of time becomes less significant."34 Other federal circuits have held that the nature of the activity must be considered, and that, in appropriate circumstances, years could pass without information becoming stale.35 In United States v. Greene, the Sixth Circuit explained that "[e]vidence of ongoing criminal activity will generally defeat a claim of staleness."36 And, according to that court, "where the criminal activity occurred in a 'secure operational base,' the passage of time becomes less significant."37

Greene was a case in which drugs were being sold out of a residence.38 Narcotics had been purchased at the residence at least twelve times, but the last reported time was twenty-three months before a warrant was sought.39 The Sixth Circuit found that the information was not stale.40 The Sixth Circuit has subsequently suggested that information about narcotics tends to go stale quickly but only "in the absence of information indicating an ongoing and continuing narcotics operation."41

Holders of three winning Mega Millions tickets will split Friday night's record $656 million jackpot. Two of those tickets were purchased in states where winners can remain anonymous.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- A citrus disease that has killed millions of citrus trees and cost growers billions of dollars across Florida and Brazil has been detected in California, despite the industry's best efforts to keep it at bay....

The trial court properly denied a Franks hearing because the defense provided no offer of proof as to what was false and how it affected probable cause. State v. Pargo, 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 228 (March 28, 2012).*

Taillight violation supported stop that revealed defendant was an “habitual” driving without a DL violator. State v. Hughes, 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 266 (March 28, 2012).*

The trial court erred in not considering the defendant’s offer of proof of the 911 call and other things on the question of reliability of an anonymous tip, but, on de novo review, the court of appeals considers it and finds that it does not change the outcome. State v. Kooima, 2012 Iowa App. LEXIS 231 (March 28, 2012).*

Police in northern Mexico arrest eight people in connection with the killing of two 10-year-old boys and a woman in ritual sacrifices.

Defendant took a pretrial application for writ to this court on a Gant issue denied by the trial court, and that order was law of the case and could not be appealed again on the direct appeal from the conviction. State v. Massey, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 413 (La. App. 5th Cir. March 27, 2012).

There was no proof that the officer’s challenged statements was anything more than negligent. One was a reasonable assumption based on the facts known to the officer at the time. United States v. Wyatt, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42725 (W.D. Ky. March 28, 2012)*:

Just because there is no Fourth Amendment rights in prison does not mean that an inmate has no rights at all. Here, the inmate’s drinking mug was bought with his own money, and it was arbitrarily confiscated. He stated a claim under the takings clause of the state constitution. Johnson v. King, 2012 Miss. App. LEXIS 169 (Miss. App. March 27, 2012).*

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) -- Authorities investigating the 2009 disappearance of a Utah woman found her blood in the family home and a hand-written note in which she expressed fear about her husband and her potential demise, according to documents unsealed Friday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Election Commission overstepped its bounds in allowing groups that fund certain election ads to keep their financiers anonymous, a federal judge ruled Friday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Election Commission overstepped its bounds in allowing groups that fund certain election ads to keep their financiers anonymous, a federal judge ruled Friday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Election Commission overstepped its bounds in allowing groups that fund certain election ads to keep their financiers anonymous, a federal judge ruled Friday....

The government changes its advice to motorists saying the need to top up fuel is not urgent, after the union rules out any strike over Easter.