Yes, the Philadelphia police can lie to you in some situations. A United States Supreme Court ruling in Frazier v. Cupp allowed police to use deception when getting a confession as long as they don’t commit entrapment. Entrapment is when police induce or encourage the commission of a crime to obtain evidence of that crime […]
PA Sup. Ct. Held Consent Cannot Be Threat Based
Consent to a blood test cannot lawfully be based on the threat of enhanced criminal penalties.
Is the government trying to take your stuff in a forfeiture case?
Forfeiture Cases Are Daunting A forfeiture case can be daunting for litigants, especially considering the fact that the standard of proof for the government to take people’s property is much less than that in a criminal proceeding. Thankfully, in a groundbreaking new opinion in the area of forfeiture cases, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has handed down […]
Police Need a Warrant to Search a Personal Computer
On June 5, 2015, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court decided the case of Commonwealth v. Sodomsky, 2015 PA Super 133 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2015), wherein it held that police need a warrant to search a personal computer, even where the computer was not in the possession of the defendant, but at a computer store for servicing. […]
Dog Sniff During Traffic Stop Held Unconstitutional
The following story is one I wrote, which was originally published in the April 2015 edition of Upon Further Review, a publication of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Re-printed here with permission of the Philadelphia Bar Association Sit! Stay! Dog Sniff During Routine Traffic Stop Held Unconstitutional. Brad V. Shuttleworth, Esq. on 4/22/2015″Well, we’ll see how […]
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