Is the Use of a Blue Light a Show of Authority?
Jeff Welty
Today, the court of appeals decided State v. Baker. Baker explains when a trial judge is required to make findings of fact when hearing a motion to suppress, and it […]
December 7, 2010
Today, the court of appeals decided State v. Baker. Baker explains when a trial judge is required to make findings of fact when hearing a motion to suppress, and it […]
Read post "Is the Use of a Blue Light a Show of Authority?"November 16, 2010
Stan Speedy is charged with impaired driving. He has filed a motion to suppress evidence of blood test results based on a violation of his Fourth Amendment and his statutory […]
Read post "Second Installment: Suppression of Chemical Analyses in Implied Consent Cases for Statutory Violations"November 10, 2010
To be valid, consent to search must be voluntary. Is consent voluntary when given after an officer thrreatens to obtain a search warrant if consent is withheld? Generally, yes. See […]
Read post "Consent to Search under Threat of Search Warrant"November 4, 2010
Dan Defendant is charged with and arrested for driving while impaired. He is taken to a law enforcement center for administration of a chemical analysis. At 2:00 a.m., the chemical […]
Read post "Can I Get a Remedy? Suppression of Chemical Analyses in Implied Consent Cases for Statutory Violations"November 2, 2010
I blogged here about In re J.D.B., a juvenile case in which the North Carolina Supreme Court held that a 13-year-old, questioned in an unlocked school conference room by police […]
Read post "United States Supreme Court to Review In re J.D.B."October 26, 2010
When I first came to the School of Government, I picked a few small areas of law in which I hoped to develop some expertise. One of those areas was […]
Read post "Showups Aren’t Lineups"October 7, 2010
A few weeks ago, I blogged about the offense of operating while impaired. One of the issues I raised in the post was whether telling a defendant that his or […]
Read post "The Theory of Implied Consent"September 30, 2010
I’ve had several questions lately about the authority of law enforcement to track a suspect by obtaining information about contacts between the suspect’s cellular telephone and cellular towers. I’m also […]
Read post "Cell Phone Tracking"September 29, 2010
As most readers of this blog are aware, S.L. 2010-94 creates a new statute, G.S. 15A-266.3A, which provides for the collection of a DNA sample from anyone arrested for a […]
Read post "Ninth Circuit DNA Collection Case"September 15, 2010
A couple of recent cases got me thinking about the authority of the police to enter a home without a warrant when there is an emergency. First, the legal background. […]
Read post "The Emergency Doctrine"