Search & Seizure Archives

PA Sup. Ct. Refutes Car Search During Illegal Detention

Published on May 12, 2015

Just a week after the United States Supreme Court suppressed evidence discovered as a result of an dog sniff because police unjustifiably prolonged a traffic stop in Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. _ (Apr. 21, 2014) (see my April 26, 2015 blog post), the PA superior Court in Commonwealth v. Nguyen, 2015 PA Super. 98 […]

SCOTUS Rules GPS Monitoring Constitutes a Search

Published on Apr 15, 2015

In Grady v. North Carolina, 575 U.S. __ (2015) (March 30, 2015), the United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari on whether the non-consensual GPS monitoring of a sex offender constitutes an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. In granting certiorari, it held that the monitoring program is a search, […]

Search of Digital Information on a Cell Phone Cannot be Justified Under the Search Incident to Arrest Doctrine

Published on Jul 25, 2014

The following story is one I wrote, and which was originally published in the July 2014 edition of Upon Further Review, a publication of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Reprinted here with permission of the Philadelphia Bar Association: Search of Digital Information on a Cell Phone Cannot be Justified Under the Search Incident to Arrest Doctrine […]

SCOTUS Hears Cell Phone Searches Incident to Arrest

Published on Mar 22, 2014

The following story is one I wrote, and which was originally published in the March 2014 edition of Upon Further Review, a publication of the Philadelphia Bar Association. Re-printed here with permission of the Philadelphia Bar Association. The original work can be viewed at the Philadelphia Bar website. SCOTUS to Hear Companion Cases Involving Cell […]

Nervousness, Reaching Justify Suspicion for Weapons Search

Published on Apr 22, 2013

Criminal lawyers in Philadelphia need to be aware of cases where police claim their clients appeared nervous and made furtive movements. The latest case on this issue is Commonwealth v. Buchert, — A.3d —, 2013 WL 1499347 (Apr. 12, 2013) from the Pennsylvania Superior Court. In Buchert, the Court held that, during a nighttime car […]