Probable Cause and Search Warrants for Cell Phones
Law enforcement officers often seek search warrants for suspects’ cell phones. When they do, judicial officials must determine what sort of evidence is needed to support the issuance of a […]
September 27, 2016
An Officer’s Reasonable Mistake of Law and Recent Court of Appeals Ruling
The United States Supreme Court in 2014 ruled in Heien v. North Carolina, 135 S. Ct. 530 (affirming State v. Heien, 366 N.C. 271 (2012)), that an officer’s objectively reasonable […]
September 26, 2016
Ordering Occupants Out of Their Vehicles — And into Officers’ Cruisers
May an officer, during a traffic stop, order an occupant out of the stopped vehicle? Into the officer’s vehicle? The law on this question has become unsettled.
September 22, 2016
State v. Lindsey: Another Close Call on Probable Cause for DWI
Do the following facts provide probable cause to arrest for impaired driving? An officer pulls behind a vehicle at a stoplight around 3 a.m. and sees that its registration is […]
September 19, 2016
Searches of Vehicles and Occupants Based on the Odor of Marijuana
May an officer search a motor vehicle based on the officer’s detection of the odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle? May the officer search the occupants of the vehicle? […]
September 13, 2016
North Carolina Court of Appeals Rules That Statutory Exclusionary Rule Does Not Bar Admission of Evidence Seized Pursuant to a Search Warrant Based on Allegedly Vague and Inaccurate Inventory of Seized Items
The Fourth Amendment’s exclusionary rule generally bars the introduction of evidence seized in violation of its provisions. State constitutions, statutes, and rules also may bar the introduction of evidence even […]
August 31, 2016
HGN, the Rules of Evidence and Suppression Hearings
True or False: An officer does not have to be qualified as an expert to testify about horizontal gaze nystagmus in a hearing on a motion to suppress in an […]
August 23, 2016
North Carolina Court of Appeals Finds Exigent Circumstances to Enter Home Without a Warrant to Conduct Protective Sweep for Officer Safety and to Prevent Destruction of Evidence
The United States Supreme Court has stated that the “physical entry of the home is the chief evil against which the wording of the Fourth Amendment is directed” and that […]
August 9, 2016
No Probable Cause to Search Vehicle Occupant Based Solely on Generalized Odor of Marijuana Emanating From Vehicle
The existence of probable cause to search a vehicle and probable cause to search a vehicle occupant based on an odor of marijuana emanating from a vehicle present separate legal […]
August 3, 2016
Does State v. Ashworth Place Factors Over Substance?
The court of appeals reversed a defendant’s DWI conviction yesterday in State v. Ashworth, __ N.C. App. __ (August 2, 2016), on the basis that the trial court plainly erred […]
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- Maggie Bailey
- Brittany Bromell
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- Alexander Cowell
- Melanie Crenshaw
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- Belal Elrahal
- Whitney Fairbanks
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- Alyson Grine
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- Joseph L. Hyde
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- Ian Mance
- Jamie Markham
- Chris McLaughlin
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- Alex Phipps
- M. Jeanette Pitts
- LaToya Powell
- Ethan Rex
- John Rubin
- Jessica Smith
- Meredith Smith
- Daniel Spiegel
- Tom Thornburg
- Hannah Turner
- Christopher Tyner
- Jeffrey Welty