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The Constitution does not forbid you to talk to a person just because that person has an attorney, or just because the attorney tells you not to do it. Instead, the law focuses on whether the suspect is willing to talk without his or her attorney present.
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In the usual case, both the seizure and the search must be reasonable under the Fourth Amendment in order for the evidence to be admissible. The U.S. Supreme Court and federal appeals courts have considered both issues when officers have used K-9s to detect contraband.
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It would be great if there were a single, simple rule to tell you where and when you may lawfully search a vehicle for contraband or evidence. Unfortunately, there are multiple rules, and sometimes more than one of them may apply.
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Flaws in a warrant that are so obvious you should have recognized them can doom your search and seizure and eliminate the usual "good faith" protection.
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As a result of these back-to-back rulings from the Supreme Court, neither the federal government nor any city, county, or state may enforce any law that creates a blanket prohibition against the possession of firearms by an individual in the home.
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Increasingly, law enforcement agencies issue electronic communication and information equipment to employees for their use in performing official duties. Access to and use and monitoring of the information stored or transmitted by means of such devices may be subject to a variety of employer policies, state and federal statutes, constitutional provisions, and case law.
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If a suspect wants to assert either his right to counsel or his right to silence, it is up to him to do so, unequivocally and unambiguously.
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If you can identify two or more ways to justify a detention, arrest, search, or entry, you increase the odds that at least one of them will be upheld in court.
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A person can frame a federal lawsuit against an officer under either the "special relationship" doctrine or the "state-created danger" doctrine.
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The Edwards rule applies to all officers and all cases - not just to the case on which the suspect invoked the right to counsel.
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