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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday....

In a FIPF case where the gun was the target of a search warrant, the defendant did not show enough to get access to the CI’s identity under Roviaro. The CI was not central to the charge under the government's theory of constructive possession. Here, it was all speculative what the defense was trying to prove. United States v. Anthony, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38123 (D. N.J. March 20, 2012):

Defendant offers a series of contentions for why disclosure is warranted, including: the need to challenge the basis for the warrant; the fact that the informant is the only person who claims to have seen Defendant in possession of the firearm; and the need to investigate Defendant's theory that the informant played a role in framing Defendant. None of these reasons provides a sufficient basis to overcome the qualified privilege.

First, the validity of the search warrant does not turn on the informant's intentions or mental state. ...

Second, the Government does not intend to introduce the informant's testimony at trial in order to prove possession; instead, the Government will present a case for constructive possession. Therefore, there is no need to cross-examine the informant regarding the informant's claimed observations.

The third and final issue is the question of whether disclosure is necessary because the informant's identity is helpful to Anthony's defense involving the gun having been planted by the informant or the informant's co-conspirator. This is the kind of defense theory that does not rise above mere speculation or hope. ...

Roviaro was decided in 1957, yet I still occasionally see charges where the prosecuting attorney charged the defendant with the underlying CI offense thereby making the CI a material witness. They apparently were not paying attention in law school or when reading the file.

Officers pulled guns on defendants and ordered them to sit down, and this was with reasonable suspicion somebody in the group was armed. The district court erred in suppressing the frisk. United States v. Lewis, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6073 (11th Cir. March 23, 2012):

As the Supreme Court emphasized in Terry itself, a brief stop-and-frisk is permissible, even absent probable cause to arrest, "for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual." 392 U.S. at 27 (emphasis added). In fact, the very rationale underpinning Terry -- the protection of officer safety and the safety of others nearby, especially from the dangers posed by firearms -- is presented by the facts of this case. We add that the detention took place at night in a high crime area, which, while surely not dispositive, is still another relevant consideration in the Terry calculus. See Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 124; United States v. Gordon, 231 F.3d 750, 755-56 (11th Cir. 2000). And we further emphasize that, as in Clark, the defendant here was not some "unrelated bystander," Clark, 337 F.3d at 1288, but rather "an associate of [the] persons being investigated for criminal activities," id.

In short, under the totality of the circumstances of this case, the officers were entitled to control the scene and exercise command over the situation in the course of briefly detaining McRae for further investigation. A brief detention of all four associated individuals was reasonable, in light of the substantial risks to the officers' safety. Accordingly, we REVERSE the district court's order granting Lewis's motion to suppress, and REMAND for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

That defendant may have had a pocket knife didn’t mean he was false when he said he had no weapons on him because small pocket knives are not considered weapons to most people. Defendant’s frisk was without reasonable suspicion he was armed. United States v. House, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 6081 (10th Cir. March 23, 2012) (unpublished):

It is likely that many law-abiding citizens would not consider themselves armed with a weapon, while carrying a folded pocket knife, when approached on the street and questioned unexpectedly by an officer. To allow a search based on the hunch that a citizen walking down the street is illegally carrying a firearm, without more, serves to erode the precious protections of the Second and Fourth Amendments. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 22 ("[I]ntrusions upon constitutionally guaranteed rights based on nothing more substantial than inarticulate hunches [are] a result this Court has consistently refused to sanction.").

An officer is free to initiate a consensual encounter without any articulable suspicion. Such an encounter may develop previously unconfirmed suspicions of criminal behavior and/or result in genuine concerns for officer safety. United States v. Jones, 606 F.3d 964, 968 (8th Cir. 2010). The difficulty in this case is that the consensual encounter did neither; in the absence of which, the evidence must be suppressed as violative of the Fourth Amendment.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rick Santorum turned in his most impressive performance yet with conservative, blue-collar and religious voters as he rode to triumph Saturday in Louisiana's Republican presidential primary, capturing robust support from people across the board, according to an exit poll of voters....

Statue of Liberty: Part 2, 5-17-10

WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. investigators believe the U.S. soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians split the slaughter into two episodes, returning to his base after the first attack and later slipping away to kill again, two American officials said Saturday....