VoteKansas.org

SURFSIDE BEACH, Texas (AP) — One person was killed and three others wounded in a shooting Saturday during a packed beach party on the Texas Gulf Coast, authorities said.

Brazoria County Sheriff Charles Wagner told the Facts newspaper that he had no immediate identification of those involved in the shooting ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Students like Delano Coffy are at the heart of brewing political fights and court battles over whether public dollars should go to school vouchers to help make private schools more affordable....

The trial court’s order denying the motion to suppress erroneously put the burden of proof on the defendant to show that a warrantless search was unreasonable. Briggs v. State, 2012 Ark. App. 226, 2012 Ark. App. LEXIS 341 (April 4, 2012):

In so holding, the trial court erred as a matter of law by impermissibly shifting the burden of proof. See Danner v. Discover Bank, 99 Ark. App. 71, 257 S.W.3d 113 (2007). The grounds asserted by appellant, i.e., lack of consent, were presumptively true because all warrantless searches are presumed illegal, and the burden of showing that a search was made pursuant to unequivocal and specific consent rests entirely on the State. State v. Brown, supra. We therefore reverse and remand for the trial court to conduct such further proceedings as are necessary for it to make findings of fact in a manner consistent with this opinion. Because the new findings may differ from those made pursuant to the inverted burden of proof employed in the present case, appellant's constitutional arguments are not ripe for decision, and we therefore do not address them.

Report to the police that a vehicle was stolen was reason to stop it. At the hearing, it was shown that the victim didn’t intend to affect defendant, but the report was relied on in good faith at the time. State v. Mundy, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 442 (La. App. 3d Cir. April 4, 2012).*

Defendant’s refusal of consent did not dispel reasonable suspicion nor mandate ending the stop if there is reasonable suspicion. State v. Gomez, 2012 UT App 102, 2012 Utah App. LEXIS 105 (April 5, 2012):

[*P11] To the extent that Gomez is asserting that his refusal to consent to the search ended the investigation as a matter of law, we do not agree. Courts generally hold that refusal to consent cannot establish or—according to some courts—even support reasonable suspicion. ... The Tenth Circuit has well stated the rationale of these cases: "If refusal of consent were a basis for reasonable suspicion, nothing would be left of Fourth Amendment protections. A motorist who consented to a search could be searched; and a motorist who refused consent could be searched, as well." Santos, 403 F.3d at 1125-26; see also United States v. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d 1345, 1351 (10th Cir. 1998) ("Any other rule would make a mockery of the reasonable suspicion and probable cause requirements, as well as the consent doctrine.").

[*P12] However, the issue here is not whether refusal to consent supports reasonable suspicion, but whether it dispels reasonable suspicion, or at any rate terminates an officer's attempts to confirm or dispel his or her original reasonable suspicion. On this point, the case law is equally clear. Gomez "cites no case law, and we have found none, that would require [the officer] to ignore all that he had observed and all that he knew up to the moment he asked for consent." See Leal, 235 F. App'x at 940. Indeed, courts routinely hold post-refusal detentions to be supported by pre-refusal reasonable suspicion under an ordinary totality-of-the-circumstances analysis. ... Thus, a brief investigative detention of a suspect who has refused consent, like any other official detention, is lawful to the extent it is supported by reasonable suspicion, and the investigating officer acts diligently to pursue a means of investigation likely to quickly confirm or dispel that suspicion. See Sharpe, 470 U.S. at 686.

[*P13] Nor do we agree with Gomez that, as a factual matter, once he denied consent to search, Officer Speeth "had done all that he could to quickly confirm or dispel his suspicion that Gomez was involved [in] drug trafficking." Gomez's own response to the officer's request suggested a further avenue of investigation. When the officer made the original request, Gomez did not consent, but neither did he categorically refuse consent. He gave a response from which the officer inferred that "some of the other occupants had something incriminating inside the hotel room." That inference cued up the next logical step in the investigation: determining whether Gomez's companions would object to a search of the hotel room. When they disclaimed any interest in the room, the officer again approached Gomez. This time, Gomez consented.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mitt Romney is starting to hone his appeal to female voters, acutely aware as he turns to the general election that he has little choice but to narrow President Barack Obama's commanding lead among this critical constituency....