DUI Laws and the Celebs Who Possibly Broke Them

Well, if Paris and Lindsay can teach us anything this week, it’s to be wary of all of the police officers who will be on patrol looking for driving violations. Darbi put together a comprehensive list of sobriety checkpoints. Click here to see if there is one near you. In celebrity news, T.I and Tiny (Clifford and [...]

Labor Day Weekend DUI Checkpoints

DUI checkpoints for Labor Day

Politics aside, feds are big help to local police – East Valley Tribune

Politics aside, feds are big help to local police East Valley Tribune According to David Gonzales, the US Marshal for Arizona, the feds apprehended 2826 fugitives who committed felonies in Maricopa County in the last two years ...

NY Court Requires Same Sex Partner to Pay Child Support

From the WSJ blog: A New York state appellate court ... became the first in the state to rule that a same-sex partner may be liable for child support. The case of H.M. v. E.T involved a one-time lesbian couple...

Baer on Cooperation’s Cost

Miriam H. Baer (Brooklyn Law School) has posted Cooperation's Cost (Washington University Law Review, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article explores the costs and benefits of criminal cooperation, the widespread practice by which prosecutors offer criminal defendants...

Big Brother Is Watching You

Although the following news story doesn’t directly involve DUI, I think it should be of concern to any citizen in this country who has the uncomfortable sense that our constitutional rights are slowly being whittled away and we are drifting toward a police state.

Court Allows Agents to Secretly Put GPS Trackers on Cars

CNN. Aug. 27  –  Law enforcement officers may secretly place a GPS device on a person’s car without seeking a warrant from a judge, according to a recent federal appeals court ruling in California.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Oregon in 2007 surreptitiously attached a GPS to the silver Jeep owned by Juan Pineda-Moreno, whom they suspected of growing marijuana, according to court papers. When Pineda-Moreno was arrested and charged, one piece of evidence was the GPS data, including the longitude and latitude of where the Jeep was driven, and how long it stayed. Prosecutors asserted the Jeep had been driven several times to remote rural locations where agents discovered marijuana being grown, court documents show.

Pineda-Moreno eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy to grow marijuana, and is serving a 51-month sentence, according to his lawyer.But he appealed on the grounds that sneaking onto a person’s driveway and secretly tracking their car violates a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy.

"They went onto the property several times in the middle of the night without his knowledge and without his permission," said his lawyer, Harrison Latto.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the appeal twice — in January of this year by a three-judge panel, and then again by the full court earlier this month. The judges who affirmed Pineda-Moreno’s conviction did so without comment.

Latto says the Ninth Circuit decision means law enforcement can place trackers on cars, without seeking a court’s permission, in the nine western states the California-based circuit covers.

The ruling likely won’t be the end of the matter. A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., arrived at a different conclusion in similar case, saying officers who attached a GPS to the car of a suspected drug dealer should have sought a warrant.  

Experts say the issue could eventually reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

One of the dissenting judges in Pineda-Moreno’s case, Chief JudgeAlex Kozinski, said the defendant’s driveway was private and that the decision would allow police to use tactics he called "creepy" and "underhanded."

"The vast majority of the 60 million people living in the Ninth Circuit will see their privacy materially diminished by the panel’s ruling," Kozinksi wrote in his dissent.

"I think it is Orwellian," said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which advocates for privacy rights.

"If the courts allow the police to gather up this information without a warrant," he said, "the police could place a tracking device on any individual’s car — without having to ever justify the reason they did that."

But supporters of the decision see the GPS trackers as a law enforcement tool that is no more intrusive than other means of surveillance, such as visually following a person, that do not require a court’s approval.

"You left place A, at this time, you went to place B, you took this street — that information can be gleaned in a variety of ways," said David Rivkin, a former Justice Department attorney. "It can be old surveillance, by tailing you unbeknownst to you; it could be a GPS."

He says that a person cannot automatically expect privacy just because something is on private property.

"You have to take measures — to build a fence, to put the car in the garage" or post a no-trespassing sign, he said. "If you don’t do that, you’re not going to get the privacy."

 
When did our right to privacy from governmental intrusion start depending on building fences?  And how long do you think even that minimal "privacy" will last?

Morning Newsdome: Another oil rig explodes in the Gulf, yet they protest … – Creative Loafing Atlanta

Morning Newsdome: Another oil rig explodes in the Gulf, yet they protest ... Creative Loafing Atlanta (the Washington Post) >> And finally: The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, for potentially violating ... and more »

Department of Justice Sues Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for Refusing to … – truthout

msnbc.com

Department of Justice Sues Maricopa County Sheriff's Office for Refusing to ... truthout Arpaio, who leads the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) and calls himself "America's toughest sheriff," has drawn both criticism and support as one of ... Feds sue Arpaio to get access to jail, recordsDaily Caller Politics aside, feds are big help to local policeEast Valley Tribune U.S. government sues Ariz. sheriff in civil rights probeUSA Today Washington Post -The Takeaway -Reuters all 661 news articles »

GALVAN v. ARPAIO – Leagle.com

GALVAN v. ARPAIO Leagle.com Plaintiff Matthew Lee Galvan filed this civil rights action under 42 USC § 1983 against Joseph M. Arpaio, Maricopa County Sheriff. (Doc. 1. ... and more »

KRMG Morning News “Stack of Stuff” and Notes 9/03/10 – KRMG (blog)

KRMG Morning News "Stack of Stuff" and Notes 9/03/10 KRMG (blog) The United States Justice Department is filing an "unprecedented" lawsuit against Joe Arpaio, the controversial sheriff of Arizona's Maricopa County. ... and more »

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