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IssuesBuffett's health on minds of Berkshire investorsOMAHA, Neb. (AP) — While 81-year-old Warren Buffett's health has been on investors' minds, many shareholders at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting said Saturday that they aren't that worried about Buffett's prostate cancer diagnosis. More than 30,000 people are expected to fill Omaha's downtown arena and overflow rooms to hear Buffett ... S.D.Fla.: Entry onto curtilage led to smell of grow operation and violated Fourth AmendmentOfficers entered onto the curtilage of defendant’s property before they could smell a grow operation and hear the equipment. That was a Fourth Amendment violation, and it vitiated alleged consent and the good faith exception to a later warrant. United States v. Lopez, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61707 (S.D. Fla. May 2, 2012): Here the Court finds that the area within the Target Residence's metal fence and gates—and specifically the areas occupied by Officers Bartra, Rios, and Benavides at the time they smelled marijuana and heard the sounds of marijuana-grow-house equipment— constituted curtilage subject to fundamental Fourth Amendment protections. The area was close in proximity to the residence, was enclosed within the metal fence and contiguous gates, and was shielded by the fence's white paneling to block observation from outside. Although the driveway may have been used for ingress to and egress from the property, and although the driveway gate did not contain obstructive paneling, the closed, locked mechanical gate clearly delineated the driveway as a private area which visitors—and thus the investigating officers—were not expected to encroach. See, e.g., Edens v. Kennedy, 112 F. App'x 870, 875 (4th Cir. 2004); United States v. Hambelton, No. 1:08cr26-SPM, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25139, 2009 WL 722284, at *4 (N.D. Fla. 2009). Moreover, although at one point Perez opened the gate so that he and Ricano could exit, one cannot say that this brief opening of the gate converted the driveway into only a semi-private area through which visitors were free to travel. See Fernandez v. State, 63 So. 3d 881, 884 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2011) ("[T]he momentary opening of the gate for the defendant to leave was not an open invitation to the public, or by extension to the police, to enter. ... No salesman or visitor could have entered the enclosed curtilage during the momentary opening. The momentary opening of the gate for the express purpose of leaving did not alter the Dunn expectation-of-privacy factors.") The Court thus finds that the area from which officers first smelled marijuana constituted "curtilage" and that the officers' physical entry into that area implicated Defendants' Fourth Amendment protections. NYTimes.com: "Wireless Carriers Who Aid Police Are Asked for Data"NYTimes.com: Wireless Carriers Who Aid Police Are Asked for Data by Eric Lichtblau: WASHINGTON — A leading House Democrat is demanding information from the country’s biggest cellphone companies about their role in helping local police departments conduct surveillance and tracking of suspects and others in criminal investigations. CA4: Unaccounted for gun at a disturbance call justified protective sweepThe district court erred in granting the motion to suppress a protective sweep. When officers arrived at a disturbance call, they heard defendant threaten a woman, and the gun he allegedly had was unaccounted for with another person inside. United States v. Laudermilt, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 9072 (4th Cir. May 3, 2012)*: Applying this framework, we believe the district court erred in granting the suppression motion. We begin by noting our agreement with the district court that the protective sweep was justified by Buie. The officers were responding to a potentially volatile situation involving a firearm and a domestic dispute, and they personally witnessed Laudermilt threatening Kuri and her family. When the officers arrested Laudermilt, the firearm was unaccounted for and—even by Laudermilt's own admission—at least one other person was in the home. In addition, as the officers were arriving on the scene, two individuals were leaving in a vehicle, one of whom was "slouched" over in his seat. Clearly, these articulable facts would have led a reasonably prudent officer to believe a protective sweep was warranted. Nexus to this apartment was shown by defendant’s mail being received there and his admitting that his immigration documents were there. When defendant was confronted with a piece of mail, his demeanor changed and he refused to cooperate about going to apartment to get his immigration documents. A search warrant was obtained for the apartment. United States v. Abdul-Ganiu, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 9085 (3d Cir. May 3, 2012).* Law.com: "The Justices tend to find a violation if they can imagine the search applying to them personally"Law.com: The Court and the Fourth Amendment; The Justices tend to find a violation if they can imagine the search applying to them personally by Erwin Chemerinsky: I long have believed that the best predictor of whether the U.S. Supreme Court finds a violation of the Fourth Amendment is whether the justices could imagine it happening to them. For example, the Supreme Court upheld drug-testing requirements in every case until it considered a Georgia law that required that high-level government officials be subjected to it. The two Fourth Amendment decisions this term, U.S. v. Jones and Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of Burlington County, powerfully illustrate that the justices only seem to care if it could happen to them. Robert Caro: Political Power---How to Get It and Use ItJenkins: The Austerity MisdirectionBergen: Would any president have made the call to kill Bin Laden?Ex-Adviser: Edwards warned to avoid mistressBy the numbers: The Republican raceThe American Way of EatingVan Gogh's Strange AfterlifeMy Way on the Highway![]() |
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