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NEW YORK (AP) -- There was a verdict in the wrenching Rutgers webcam spying case, but no resolution to a broader question that hovered over it: To what extent are hate crime laws a help or a hindrance in the pursuit of justice?...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Obama is asking Democrats and Republicans to act on his "to-do list" for Congress, a five-point plan he says would create jobs and help restore middle-class security....

LAKE TAPPS, Wash. (AP) -- On a winding road of wood-frame homes tucked amid towering trees, Robert Bales was the father who joined his two young children for playtime in the yard, a career soldier who greeted neighbors warmly but was guarded when talking about the years he spent away at war....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- After a few months of relative peace on the budget front, Democrats and Republicans are readying for a party-defining, election-year fight over trillion dollar-plus deficits and what to do about them....

The warrant application specified a car and the residence as the target of the search. The warrant, however, did not mention the car. Since warrants for houses include vehicles parked on the curtilage, the car could be searched. State v. Washington, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 322 (La. App. 5th Cir. March 13, 2012):

Although the affidavit on which the warrant was based refers several times specifically to the Monte Carlo, the warrant itself does not refer to any vehicles. However, a warrant authorizing the search of a particularly described premises permits the search of a vehicle located on the premises targeted for the search and subject to the authority of the warrant. State v. Smith, 02-1842, p. 1 (La. 9/20/02), 827 So. 2d 1122, 1123 (per curiam); State v. Carter, 10-973, p. 8 (La. App. 5 Cir. 8/30/11), 75 So.3d 1, 5. The rationale behind this holding is that the vehicle is capable of concealing the sought-after contraband. Id. Accordingly, the search of defendant's vehicle was valid pursuant to the warrant since it was parked in front of the residence which was the target of the search and which was particularly described in the warrant. This assignment of error is without merit.

Defendant’s traffic stop was unlawful and was suppressed. Information from that stop ended up in a search warrant application. Excising it, the remainder still showed probable cause. Defendant had been under investigation for quite sometime and a lot of information had been developed. State v. Williams, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 328 (La. App. 2d Cir. March 14, 2012).*

The CI’s tip of a group smoking marijuana was corroborated by plain smell on the officer’s arrival, providing reasonable suspicion. State v. Pineda, 2012 La. App. LEXIS 324 (La. App. 5th Cir. March 13, 2012).*

Seeing a firearm on defendant’s person justified a patdown. While Florida is a concealed carry state, the officer does not have to exclude the possibility of a permit before the frisk. Mackey v. State, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 4063 (Fla. 3d DCA March 14, 2012):

Mackey contends the arresting officer had no reasonable suspicion to detain him for carrying a concealed firearm. He begins by noting that it is generally not illegal to possess a firearm in Florida. Mackey then argues in his brief, relying again upon Regalado, that "since, under Florida law, carrying a concealed firearm is illegal only if the individual does not have a permit and since the officer had no information suggesting that defendant did not have a permit, the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to stop him for carrying a concealed firearm." Whether, as a general proposition, mere possession of a firearm is not illegal in Florida, it is beside the point. Mackey was not observed in mere possession of a firearm; rather, he was observed in possession of a concealed firearm, and the officer testified that he observed a "piece of the handle sticking out" of Mackey's pocket, enabling the officer to identify it as a firearm. It is the concealment of the firearm, not merely its possession, which rendered Mackey's conduct illegal, and authorized the officer's actions in this case. Moreover, Mackey's argument necessarily overlooks the difference between an essential element of the crime and an exception, or affirmative defense, to the crime.

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- When the Navy trains for responding to a terrorist attack on one of its U.S. bases, it's not just explosives, gunmen and suspicious fishing boats that the service's top leaders are concerned about. It's the traffic....

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- When the Navy trains for responding to a terrorist attack on one of its U.S. bases, it's not just explosives, gunmen and suspicious fishing boats that the service's top leaders are concerned about. It's the traffic....

NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- When the Navy trains for responding to a terrorist attack on one of its U.S. bases, it's not just explosives, gunmen and suspicious fishing boats that the service's top leaders are concerned about. It's the traffic....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Horse racing has long withstood the deaths of its skittish, injury-prone thoroughbreds. Hollywood proved it lacks the stomach for it....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Horse racing has long withstood the deaths of its skittish, injury-prone thoroughbreds. Hollywood proved it lacks the stomach for it....

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Horse racing has long withstood the deaths of its skittish, injury-prone thoroughbreds. Hollywood proved it lacks the stomach for it....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him, and that the volunteer was not defending himself as he has claimed, the teen's family told The Associated Press on Saturday....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him, and that the volunteer was not defending himself as he has claimed, the teen's family told The Associated Press on Saturday....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him, and that the volunteer was not defending himself as he has claimed, the teen's family told The Associated Press on Saturday....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him, and that the volunteer was not defending himself as he has claimed, the teen's family told The Associated Press on Saturday....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- An unarmed black teenager shot to death by a neighborhood watch captain told his girlfriend moments before he was killed that he was being followed, a lawyer said Tuesday as federal and state prosecutors announced they would investigate....

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) -- Calls made to police show that a black teenager was terrified as he tried to get away from the white neighborhood watch volunteer who shot him, and that the volunteer was not defending himself as he has claimed, the teen's family told The Associated Press on Saturday....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Death, taxes and now health insurance? Having a medical plan or else paying a fine is about to become another certainty of American life, unless the Supreme Court says no....

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Death, taxes and now health insurance? Having a medical plan or else paying a fine is about to become another certainty of American life, unless the Supreme Court says no....