5th Amendment: Silence and Not Answering Police Questions Is Now Evidence
Without being placed in custody or receiving Miranda warnings, Salinas voluntarily answered the questions of a police officer who was investigating a murder. But petitioner balked when the officer asked whether a ballistics test would show that the shell casings found at the...
Search Warrant Affidavit MUST provide Information on Affiant’s Credibility
Glover appeals the denial of his motion to suppress the guns, drugs, and paraphernalia seized from his home pursuant to a search warrant. He argues the warrant was not supported by probable cause. He argues further that the good faith exception to...
Police Can Not Search Cell Phone Without a Warrant
Background: In No. 13–132, petitioner Riley was stopped for a traffic violation, which eventually led to his arrest on weapons charges. An officer searching Riley incident to the arrest seized a cell phone from Riley’s pants pocket. The officer accessed information on the...
Entrapment: Exploitation of Friendship Can Constitute Inducement
Background: Jacob Elliott was arrested in 2009 and, when offered hope of leniency, became an FBI informant. He targeted Mark McGill, who, after weeks of pestering, allowed Elliot to bring a USB flash drive to his apartment to...
Video Recorded By Non-Testifying Snitch Does NOT Violate the Confrontation Clause
BACKGROUND. The defendant was convicted by a jury of possession of at least 280 grams of crack cocaine with intent to distribute, and was sentenced to 288 months in prison. His appeal challenges the conviction.
The...
Possession With Intent to Distribute Inferred From “Substantial” Amount of Drugs
USSG 3C1.1. Definition of “Material Matter”
(Editor’s Note: Mr. Riney was represented at Motion, trial and Sentencing by Chicago Criminal Defense Attorney Michael J. Petro)
Defendant Guy Riney was convicted in a jury trial of possession of a firearm after previously having been convicted of...
Police Officer’s Good Faith Mistake of Law is NOT Reasonable Grounds for a Traffic Stop
(Editor’s note: the United States Sureme Court granted cert in Heien v. North Carolina, No. 13-604 on this issue: Whether a police officer’s mistake of law can provide the individualized
suspicion that the Fourth Amendment requires to justify a traffic...
Trial Exhibits In the Jury Room: Boilerplate Rules
BACKGROUND. In 2007, United States Postal Inspection Service (“USPIS”) inspectors discovered that an internet bulletin board site called “the Cache” was providing users with access to images and videos depicting child pornography. After obtaining a search warrant, USPIS inspectors seized the Cache’s contents and...
USSG 2X1.1 Incomplete Conspiracy Reduction – Boilerplate Rules
The defendant pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit a robbery affecting interstate commerce, in violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a), and to carrying firearms during and in relation to a crime of violence (the conspiracy to rob), in violation of...