Case decided 3 days ago. The Constitution Lives.

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Magic Exists!

Case decided 3 days ago. The Constitution Lives.

DETENTION OF THE DEFENDANT ILLEGAL; CONSENT VITIATED
The police saw Vargas in a front yard, stripping wire from an air
conditioner. They approached Vargas and asked what he was doing. He
said he was stripping the wire because the air conditioner didn’t
work, and that he was visiting the defendant, who lived in the house.
The police saw that a side door to the house was open. The officer
stuck his head in the door and commanded anyone inside to come to the
door. The defendant responded. The officer directed the defendant to
walk to the door backwards and come outside. The defendant did so.
The officer asked for consent to search, got it, and found meth.

The Court of Appeals says that the officer had detained the defendant before the requested consent thus there was no probable cause to believe that the defendant was committing any crime. The illegal detention vitiated the consent. Evidence suppressed!

People v. Lujano; E057671; 8/26/14; C/A 4th, Div. 2

Shyster

FLORIDA - Bikers refused fair entry reach settlement with authority

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The organization that operates the Florida State Fair will pay thousands to a trio of motorcycle club members who were refused entry into the fair in 2010.
Three bikers filed a lawsuit against the Florida State Fair Authority, which refused the men entry for not removing their motorcycle club logos and colors.

Fair officials said the logos were banned, saying the concern was the logos encouraged gang activity.

Two of the men were members of the Spirit Riders Motorcycle Ministry. The other was affiliated with the U.S. Military Vets Motorcycle Club. Their logos included American flags and crucifixes.
According to partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, the men filed a federal lawsuit against the Fair Authority, operations manager Bill Bullock, executive director Charles Pesano, Hillsborough sheriff's Maj. Al Greco and Sheriff David Gee, whose off-duty deputies provided security under Bullock's supervision.


The Fair Authority is paying the men $72,500 collectively as part of a settlement.

BABE OF THE DAY

Wisconsin - Tracking Bullets

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MILWAUKEE -- Gun violence is a big problem in Milwaukee. But now police have the latest technology to help them catch criminals.

It's all about being in the right place at the right time. Police are using real time technology to do that and they showed TODAY’STMJ4 Reporter Charles Benson how it works.

Every time a gun is fired the bullet casing leaves a clue, a clue as obvious as a fingerprint.

Benson: So if I fire 10 times from the same gun each of those casings will look identical?
Officer McNeil: Yes, I try to explain it to people by using the fingerprint. It's literally just as accurate as a fingerprint 
Officer Malcolm McNeil uses a new computer system called NIBIN to find the marks or fingerprints on a bullet shell when a gun is fired. No two guns are alike.
"It's exciting work,” said Officer McNeil. “It's something seen as being cutting edge.”

And it cuts down on valuable time. McNeil can trace a shell casing from a crime scene to a gun within hours instead of weeks or months.



That helps police track the gun back to its owner. That’s science and speed critical to cops on the street. 

“The power of NIBIN is we're able to say within a scientific certainty that these events are connected,” said Captain David Salazar.

Captain Salazar walked us through a real life scenario where police recently used NIBIN to connect a gun to 9 armed robberies and shootings in Milwaukee.

Information collected and processed from the bullet casings quickly connected the crimes and created a pattern that police could follow - giving them valuable time and information to make an arrest.

Benson: By this point you are now positioning your team- your officers to where the suspects are going to be next? 
Captain Salazar: That's the power of NIBIN you are able to laser focus your people and arm them with the most accurate intelligence to make the best opportunity.

In this case it worked. Police say they were in position when the suspects struck again. Three people were arrested and recovered a gun. 

The ATF in Milwaukee partnered with police and secured the $300,000 for the newest version of the NIBIN system. Assistant Agent Jeffery Magee is with the ATF in Milwaukee.

Benson: In less than a year that this has been up and running, how successful has it been?
Agent Magee: Very successful.

In March police ID nearly 200 shell casings and 43 were linked to one or more crimes. That's more than double the national average - meaning police and ATF have their work cut out for them. 

“There's a lot of gun crimes recovered and we wanted to focus and bring this technology here to be forward thinking,” said Magee.

This type of technology has been around for more than ten years but Milwaukee Police have the newest version. In fact, Milwaukee is only one of three cities in the country that has it.

http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/Tracking-Bullets-256692211.html

THURS. AUG. 28: FREE KNOW YOUR RIGHTS SEMINAR IN LAS VEGAS

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By Kelly W. Patterson | Videos

Attorney Stephen “Bowtie” Stubbs, who hosts free Know Your Rights seminars in Las Vegas.

Note: This post was originally published on theNevada Cop Block site.

This coming Thursday, August 28th (2014), at 7:00 PM; Las Vegas area attorney Stephen Stubbswill be giving a free “Know Your Rights” seminar. The seminar will take place at the Leatherneck Club of Las Vegas, which is located at 4360 Spring Mountain Rd, Las Vegas, Nevada 89102 (view map to location). If you are on Facebook, you can RSVP here at the event invite.

Among other things, this seminar covers people’s rights under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That includes the right to freedom of speech and the extent and limitations of that freedom. In addition, the First Amendment also provides for freedom of the press, which applies to citizens ability to film persons, including government officials and the police, while they are performing their duties in public.

While discussing the Second Amendment right to bear arms, Stubbs covers Nevada law relating to open carrying of firearms, as well as the limitations, licensing requirements, and process for such that the State of Nevada places on the concealed carrying of firearms. He also breaks down the different restrictions and prohibitions placed on non-firearm (knives, clubs, brass knuckles, etc.) weapons by state and local law.

Am I Being Detained or Am I Free to Go?

Another significant part of the seminar involves what the police can and cannot do in relation to searches, seizure of property, and detention of people based on the Fourth Amendment. That includes the requirement for reasonable suspicion to believe that someone is about to commit a crime, has committed a crime, or is in the process of committing a crime in order to justify detaining someone. It also includes the requirement for consent before police can conduct a warrant-less search, with a few very narrow exceptions, such as evidence in plain view and risk of eminent danger (one of several exigent circumstances). In addition, the differences between searches conducted upon someones person, a vehicle, or their home are explained.

Stephen Stubbs’ Free Know Your Rights Seminar

The Constitutional due process protections within the Fifth Amendment are also covered pretty extensively during the seminar. A person’s right against self-incrimination is explained. Stubbs goes over how (and why) people shouldinvoke their right to remain silent when questioned and avoid answering questions without the benefit of legal counsel being present. (That second part actually has a bit of added significance, sinceStephen Stubbs was actually arrested himself for refusing to leave the side of one of his clients, who had invoked his right to have legal counsel present during a traffic stop, back in November of 2013.)

In general, the seminar is very informative and worthwhile for anyone, since it’s not unusual for the average person to get stopped for, at the very least, a traffic violation andknowing your rights can’t hurt you. Beyond that, the seminar does focus largely onencounters with police and situations such as filming in public, interacting verbally with police, the legalities of whether cops can justifiably stop; search; and arrest someone, and what to do in those situations. Therefore, anyone involved in or wishing to become involved in Cop Block related activities should find this seminar very useful and well worth attending. It will also serve as a good opportunity to connect with other like-minded individuals within the Las Vegas area.

If you do come (and you should) to this free seminar you will find Stephen Stubbs is a very knowledgeable and entertaining person, with a history of standing up for individuals’ rights, when they are abused by the police or other government employees. Personally, I’m very glad to have someone as well versed and approachable as him performing this valuable service for our community. BTW, did I mention that he does it for free?