Topic
Every decision we've filed under Fourth Amendment - Search & Seizure.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction of a Customs and Border Protection officer who was found guilty of depriving a traveler of his rights and falsifying records. The court rejected the officer's due process claim that the government violated his rights by deleting a video of a separate incident under its standard retention policy.
The Fifth Circuit reversed the dismissal of a Fourth Amendment claim regarding a police re-entry into a home after officers realized they were at the wrong address. The court affirmed the dismissal of an excessive force claim, finding that pointing a gun at a sleeping couple in this context did not violate clearly established law.
The Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment for Dr. Dale Woolridge, holding that conducting a forensic medical exam on a child without parental consent or a court order violates clearly established constitutional rights absent exigent circumstances. The court also reversed summary judgment for investigator Gerardo Talamantes on judicial deception claims, finding a genuine dispute of material fact regarding the materiality of his statements to the juvenile court.
The Eleventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a Section one thousand nine hundred eighty-three malicious prosecution claim. The court held that the plaintiff failed to identify a specific legal process that was constitutionally infirm or to allege sufficient causation between the detective's affidavit and the arrest.
The Tenth Circuit affirmed a drug trafficking conviction after determining that the defendant's appeal raised no non-frivolous issues. The panel upheld the district court's denial of a motion to suppress, finding the traffic stop was justified by observed violations and the dog sniff did not unlawfully extend the detention.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed the denial of qualified immunity for a police officer who shot and killed a fleeing, unarmed teenager who made no threatening movements with a weapon. The court held that under clearly established law, an officer cannot use deadly force against a suspect who is armed but poses no immediate threat to safety.
The Fourth Circuit affirmed summary judgment for law enforcement officers, holding that a traffic stop and arrest warrant were supported by probable cause under the totality of the circumstances. The court found sufficient evidence of witness intimidation to justify the seizure, rejecting the plaintiff's Fourth Amendment claim.
The Fourth Circuit reversed a district court's suppression order, ruling that evidence seized from an arrestee's bags would have been inevitably discovered through lawful inventory searches. The court held that established departmental policies mandated searching all personal property of arrestees, rendering the warrantless search incident to arrest unnecessary to justify admission.
The Fourth Circuit vacated a district court judgment that granted qualified immunity to a police officer who deployed a K-9 against a non-threatening suspect. The appellate court held that the right to be free from unnecessary and disproportionate force by a police dog was clearly established at the time of the incident.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of qualified immunity to Officer Harris, holding that no clearly established law prohibited his warning against using foul language in public near children during a noise complaint investigation. The court found that Ward's belligerent conduct provided arguable probable cause for a disorderly conduct arrest, defeating his constitutional claims.