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Steve Chapman | We've come a long way in religious tolerance. Or maybe not.

Washington Post/AP | After the satanic ritual that was the Queen's Jubilee, Prince Charles headed for Transylvania, his vampire homeland.

Defendant agreed to a knock-and-talk at his gate, and the officers’ insistence on coming inside violated the curtilage and the scope of consent. Ferrer v. State, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 9211 (Fla. 2d DCA June 8, 2012):

We reject the State's contention that once Ferrer opened the locked gate, general "knock-and-talk" principles authorized the deputies to proceed to the front door area. See, e.g., State v. Navarro, 19 So. 3d 370, 372-73 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009). The State argues that because the officers were free to proceed to the front door of the house to knock and talk, the evidence of marijuana was legally obtained under the "plain smell" doctrine. The flaw in this argument is that it does not recognize that the deputies' encounter with Ferrer at the gate was a knock and talk encounter. Rather than leaving his property open for any member of the public to enter, Ferrer had taken steps to keep out uninvited visitors by fencing it and erecting an electric gate across his driveway, thereby demonstrating an expectation of privacy. Cf. Nieminski v. State, 60 So. 3d 521, 525-27 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011) (finding no violation of privacy where officers entered fenced property through a closed, but unlocked, gate). Thus, while officers were free to approach the gate to conduct a knock and talk—which they did—the area inside the fence fell under the same constitutional protections as the residence itself, and the officers were not at liberty, absent consent, to approach the residence. Compare Fernandez v. State, 63 So. 3d 881, 883-84 (Fla. 3d DCA 2011) (holding that the defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the fenced yard adjacent to his residence and that the momentary opening of the gate to allow the defendant to leave was not an invitation for police to enter); with State v. Triana, 979 So. 2d 1039, 1045 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008) (finding no constitutional violation where the police had a consensual encounter with the defendant outside of the locked gate to the defendant's property and the defendant agreed to a search and opened the gate to allow the police to enter). [¶] It is undisputed that the only thing Ferrer consented to was to speak to the officers "on the other side of the gate." ...

WASHINGTON — Commerce Secretary John Bryson said Monday he will take a medical leave of absence to undergo tests and evaluations after suffering a seizure in connection with a succession of traffic accidents in the Los Angeles area.

Mr. Bryson informed President Obama that he was taking ...

Defendant’s flight from the officer who was attempting to seize him for a minor offense was a new crime to which the exclusionary rule did not apply. His dropping his gun when shot at was still abandonment under Hodari D. United States v. Gant, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78853 (D. Minn. June 7, 2012), R&R 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79269 (D. Minn. May 22, 2012).*

Probable cause developed to search defendant and his companion’s purse, and that provided probable cause to search the car they arrived in. The defendant admitted that the stop started with the officer quite respectfully offering assistance because they might be lost. One thing turned into another into another, and PC developed. [A new one on me: “motel drug interdiction duty” in North Carolina.] United States v. Laihben, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 11682 (4th Cir. June 7, 2012).*

The stop here was not so long that the traffic stop was turned into a detention requiring reasonable suspicion. The passenger also had no standing in the vehicle. United States v. Santos, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79252 (N.D. Ga. April 24, 2012).*

Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel, have the power to boost the economy and Obama's chances by settling the Euro crisis.

Undercover officers used a man who didn’t know they were police to go to defendant’s house to buy drugs, which he did. When he got back to the car, he was arrested, and the officers went to the house to do a knock-and-talk, ultimately entering and doing a protective sweep and seizing the house pending investigation. In the meantime, another had gone to get a search warrant for the house. They had probable cause to get a search warrant before the protective sweep, and suppression was not ordered because of the inevitable discovery doctrine even though the view of drugs during the protective sweep made it into the search warrant application. Kamara v. State, 2012 Md. App. LEXIS 70 (June 7, 2012):

Thus, the issue here is whether the later search pursuant to the warrant was genuinely independent of the earlier observation of the marijuana in the house. The Court in Murray gave guidance on how to assess this issue. It noted two situations in which the evidence would not be deemed to be obtained by independent lawful means: (1) where the officer's "decision to seek the warrant was prompted by what they had seen during the initial entry"; and (2) where "information obtained during that entry was presented to the [judge] and affected his decision to issue the warrant." Id.

In the present case, neither of these situations are present. The evidence here established that the police planned to get a warrant prior to the protective sweep or the discovery of any contraband. Detective Oaks testified that, when Sergeant Carafano arrived at the house, he announced that the police were going to detain appellant while they sought a search warrant. Appellant was then handcuffed and detained, and two officers conducted the protective sweep. The uncontradicted evidence shows that the decision to seek the search warrant was not prompted by what the officers saw during the initial protective sweep.

Georgia businessman and former congressman Howard "Bo" Callaway was in intensive care at an Atlanta hospital Sunday after surgery following a cerebral hemorrhage, according to officials of Callaway Gardens, a 13,000-acre vacation resort and preserve created by Callaway and his parents.

In a political battle where fiscal conservatives faced off against the labor movement, Wisconsin held a closely watched gubernatorial recall election this week.

Israel National News | "The US blocked Israel's participation in the Global Counterterrorism Forum's, due to fierce objections from Turkey."

U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson was cited for felony hit-and-run after causing two car accidents within minutes of one another in Southern California, a police spokesman told CNN early Monday.

Paul Steinhauser looks at how recent political blunders from President Obama and Mitt Romney may have hurt them.

Did the President just hand Mitt Romney a campaign gift? CNN's Jim Acosta reports.

Defendant was suspected in the murder of his wife, and he was on the lam with their son. He was tracked to a hotel room that night, but the police waited until the next day to make an entry, which, of course, led to the argument that they had no exigent circumstances. The court finds that they had probable cause to believe that defendant was involved in the murder and the son was likely a witness. And, with probable cause, he could be arrested without a warrant under VI law and the Fourth Amendment. However, the police knew he was at the hotel but not the room, and there was nobody to ask, and that’s why they waited until morning. If they could have isolated the room, then they could have gotten an oral or telephonic warrant if necessary [n.13]. As soon as they had a room number, they went in. Nicholas v. People, 2012 V.I. Supreme LEXIS 48 (June 6, 2012):

Here, the police clearly possessed exigent circumstances at the time they entered the hotel room. "Circumstances involving the protection of a child's welfare, even absent suspicions of criminal activity, may present an exigency permitting warrantless entry, but only if the officer reasonably believes that 'someone is in imminent danger.'" Ray v. Twp. of Warren, 626 F.3d 170, 177 (3d Cir. 2010) (quoting Parkhurst v. Trapp, 77 F.3d 707, 711 (3d Cir. 1996)). At the time the police gathered the relevant information—that Nicholas was in Room 205 of the Bella Vista Hotel with his son—they had reason to believe that D.N. witnessed his mother's murder and may, in fact, have been the only eyewitness. (S.A. 144.) They knew that a gun was used in the killing but was not left at the crime scene. (S.A. 172.) The police had statements from neighbors establishing that Nicholas entered the apartment that morning. (S.A. 238.) Shortly after he entered, the neighbors heard the sound of a gunshot and a loud thump, and Nicholas was seen leaving the apartment in a hurry with his son. (S.A. 143, 144, 200; J.A. 113-15.) Although the police had no evidence that Nicholas ever threatened his son, they knew that he had both a motive and the opportunity to silence his son, the only likely eyewitness. Therefore, the police acted reasonably and the trial court correctly found that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless entry and search. See United States v. Thompson, 357 Fed. Appx. 406, 411 (3d Cir. 2009) (finding exigent circumstances where witnesses to a shoot-out saw a participant to the crime pull a child out of a bullet-ridden vehicle and enter an apartment); United States v. Parris, 229 Fed. Appx. 130, 135 (3d Cir. 2007) (determining that it was reasonable for police to enter a home without a warrant where a man who had been firing a weapon outside the house had entered the home, where children were inside and appeared afraid, and where the police could not see inside well enough to determine if anyone was injured or being held against their will); State v. Aviles, 891 A.2d 935, 945 (Conn. 2006) (concluding that police acted reasonably when they entered the room of someone suspected of having committed murder within the last twelve hours and where the murder weapon had not yet been recovered, because the assailant might still have possessed the gun and might still have been willing to use it); Columbus v. Montgomery, No. 09AP-537, 2011 WL 983080, at *10 (Ohio Ct. App. Mar. 22, 2011) (unpublished) (finding exigent circumstances where children may have been sexually abused and were inside an apartment, possibility with the alleged assailant, even though there was no evidence of ongoing violence).

RT | South Korea held military exercises after which it warned North Korea that they are ready to retaliate if the North attacks first.

Penn. is making it a Crime for Minor to Post or Send Messages That “Emotional[ly] Distress” Another Minor. Everyone is against bullying these days, but attempts to restrict bullying seem to try to censor legitimate free speech. Liberals are often trying to silence opposing opinions by calling them hate speech or cyberbullying. Even teenagers should have the right to express an opinion.Rogerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03474078324293158376noreply@blogger.com0

Raw Story | Rand Paul: "...if there's a secret deal, it's so secret that I don't know about it."

NY Daily News | Rep. Peter King: “I wish we could all live in a world where we could hold hands and love each other, the fact is that’s not reality.”

Paul Joseph Watson | Russia's climbdown sets stage for regime change.

YouTube | NATO has forced Syria to bomb itself.