VoteKansas.org

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — The investigation into last month's shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in an Orlando suburb is out of the hands of the beleaguered police chief and the county prosecutor with the Justice Department looking at possible civil rights violations and a grand jury perhaps considering ...

NEW YORK — Undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities.

The infiltration echoes the tactics the NYPD used ...

Defendant failed to show standing in a hotel room that he was not registered to that he was only a casual visitor to. United States v. Bushay, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37935 (N.D. Ga. March 12, 2012)*:

First, Judge Baverman concluded that Bushay lacked standing to challenge the agents' search of the hotel room because he did not establish that he had a subjective or objective expectation of privacy in the hotel room. As to Bushay's subjective expectation of privacy, the magistrate judge concluded that Bushay did not show that he had an unrestricted right of occupancy or custody and control of the premises as distinguished from occasional presence on the premises as a mere guest or invitee. Specifically, Bushay failed to establish that the room was rented in his name, that he paid for the room, or that he was the registered additional guest.

In reaching this conclusion, Judge Baverman found significant that Bushay described his presence in the area as having "met friends"; referred to "the" hotel room rather than "his" hotel room; never proved that the two plastic keys were in fact the keys to room 308; did not prove that the vehicle he was operating at the time of his arrest was a vehicle registered for room 308; was not using the hotel for lodging; and kept no personal items in the room other than the gun. Although Bushay argued that the fact that the agents believed that he was staying in the room helped prove his standing, Judge Baverman found this argument unpersuasive because a defendant may not establish standing by relying on the government's theory of the case. Because he could not establish that the hotel room was his, nor could he establish that he was an overnight guest, Judge Baverman found that Bushay had not established that he had a subjective expectation of privacy. Further, he concluded that Bushay had also failed to establish an objective expectation of privacy in the hotel room because at most he was only a casual visitor.

Cell phone pictures might have evidence of crime in drug cases. I've been seeing for years in search warrant affidavits that officers want to see pictures on computers or in a house because of the propensity of drug traffickers to take pictures of their scores. And, I've seen them in evidence: all the plants of the grow operation, the bounty from the big score, the pound of coke before it is parceled out. See Mail Online: Driving his Porsche in pants, posing with stacks of cash and beating up his rivals: Photos found on lost phone of 'Chinese gangster' show his bad-boy lifestyle. Besides the stacks of cash, there's a picture of torture with a pair of pliers and a foot to the neck.

NetworkWorld: You consent to a search if a camera sees you? Facial Recognition vs 4th Amendment:

When you go outside or go to other public places such as a bank or a mall, have you automatically given up your Fourth Amendment rights and consented to a search? When it comes to tracking you via facial recognition technology, what if the government or other law enforcement were to use that argument, that by simply being in a place where there are security cameras, you waived your Fourth Amendment rights and consented to a search?

The FBI and DOD sponsored a legal series about the U.S. government using facial recognition; the latest forum was titled "Striking the Balance - A Government Approach to Facial Recognition Privacy and Civil Liberties." Whenever the word 'balance' is used, privacy and civil liberties are usually about to be kicked in the name of 'security.' When it comes to surveillance via facial recognition technology, federal law enforcement, intelligence personnel and national security agencies are looking into the "gaps in legal/policy authority that may result in privacy and civil liberties vulnerabilities if left unaddressed."

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) Senior Fellow Peter Swire, also a law professor at Ohio State University, spoke about "Facial Recognition by the Government: Privacy and Civil Liberties Issues." Since using "one's facial image, with or without knowledge or consent," can identify and be used to track a person "an inherent tension exists between privacy and facial recognition." The forum was to "examine where the appropriate balance lies between crime and terrorism prevention using facial recognition and robust privacy safeguards." Swire started with two different perspectives about facial recognition, according to FPF.

Failure to file a suppression motion is not a ground for IAC without showing how it would have been granted. Just alleging one wasn't filed doesn't cut it. People v. Johnson, 2012 Mich. App. LEXIS 519 (March 20, 2012).*

Defendant’s claim defense counsel was not ineffective for not moving to quash the arrest warrant fails because there was clearly probable cause. People v. Lambert, 2012 Mich. App. LEXIS 499 (March 20, 2012).*

The CI was not shown to be reliable except by corroboration by an “extensive” police investigation, and that was adequate. The triggering conditions of the anticipatory warrant here satisfied Grubbs. United States v. Donnell, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 36487 (D. Minn. February 2, 2012).*

SANFORD, Fla. — The police chief and prosecutor who have been bitterly criticized for not arresting a neighborhood watch volunteer in the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager both left the case Thursday, with the chief saying that he is temporarily leaving his job to let passions cool.

MADISON, WIS. — About the only thing Kevin Flynn enjoys more than drinking his home-brewed beer is sharing it with fellow beer-club members at festivals and tasting competitions. So Mr. Flynn and his buddies were shocked to discover that Wisconsin law prohibits sharing homemade suds anywhere outside the brewer's ...

DALLAS — At least five high-ranking executives with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity have resigned in the aftermath of the organization's decision, promptly rescinded, to eliminate its funding for Planned Parenthood.

The departures include three officials from Komen's Dallas headquarters, as well as CEOs ...

CALIFORNIA

Whitney Houston died from drowning, coroner says

LOS ANGELES | Whitney Houston died from drowning in a hotel bathtub, but coroner's officials said Thursday that heart disease and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors to the singer's death.

The release of autopsy findings ends weeks of speculation about what ...

Education Secretary Arne Duncan used Thursday's appearance before a key House subcommittee to not only defend the Obama administration's request for a $1.7 billion increase in school funding for fiscal 2013, but also to rip the GOP budget proposal laid out by Rep. Paul Ryan earlier this week.

"However well-intentioned, ...