The U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmed that police need to obtain a warrant to search the premises around someone’s home, even if they think they have spotted stolen property there. They aren’t allowed to take a quick peek and initiate a search based on what they see. The case involved a stolen black and orange motorcycle. […]
When you’re driving in your own car, the police can’t just pull you over for no reason — they need reasonable suspicion that you’ve committed an offense. Once they’ve stopped you, they need probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed before they can perform a full search of your vehicle. This is […]
Not all evidence is admissible in a courtroom. Mistakes can be made throughout police investigations, and illegally obtained evidence can be tossed. In a suppression hearing, a judge will decide if evidence should be suppressed. What kind of evidence is inadmissible and why? Below, we provide an overview of the reasons evidence can be suppressed […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has just ruled in favor of an appeal for a man who styles himself a “constitutional bounty hunter.” He pled guilty to a gun possession crime but then sought to appeal the constitutionality of the statute. Ordinarily, a standard guilty plea agreement altogether waives your right to appeal. In this case, […]
The U.S. Supreme Court has just heard an appeal on whether police can collect cellphone location data without a warrant and still have it be admissible against criminal defendants. The case pits Americans’ privacy rights against the government’s interest in easy access to personal data that can solve crimes. The case before the court involves several […]
Sometimes, a single defendant is subjected to two separate trials. This is often done in an effort to protect the defendant’s right to a fair trial when something in the first trial would create undue prejudice among the jury in the second trial, or vice versa. But what if part of the second trial depends […]
