Police officers lack probable cause to arrest and search someone for marijuana possession simply for smelling of the drug, because possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana is not a crime in Maryland, the state’s top court unanimously ruled ...

Tagged with: fourth amendment Marijuana Decriminalization marijuana smell probable cause Search and seizure

A federal appeals court has rejected a request from civil rights groups that it expedite its consideration of their constitutional challenge to the Baltimore Police Department’s use of aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city. Without comment, the 4th ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance first amendment fourth amendment freedom of association unreasonable search

Saying time is of the essence when the Constitution is at stake, civil rights groups are urging a federal appeals court to expedite consideration of whether the Baltimore Police Department’s use of aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city ...

Tagged with: ACLU aerial surveillance Baltimore Police Department crime fighting first amendment fourth amendment

In a case centering on video of a police-involved shooting, a divided Maryland high court Tuesday reinstated a jury’s civil verdict that a Baltimore officer used excessive force by firing four shots into a motorist who ran toward him during ...

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A federal judge on Friday gave the Baltimore Police Department an all-clear to begin using aerial surveillance to fight crime in the city, rejecting arguments that the overflights would violate Baltimoreans’ constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and their right to ...

Tagged with: aerial surveillance fourth amendment reasonable expectation of privacy violent crime

The Baltimore Police Department this week defended the constitutionality of its planned use of aerial surveillance of the city, citing BPD’s compelling need to fight violent crime and saying Baltimoreans have no “reasonable expectation of privacy” when walking in public. ...

Tagged with: ACLU aerial surveillance first amendment fourth amendment police reasonable expectation of privacy

A civil rights group is seeking a federal court order to block the Baltimore Police Department’s planned aerial surveillance of the city, saying the crime-fighting tactic would violate Baltimoreans’ constitutional right to free association and protection against unreasonable searches. The ...

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Maryland’s top court has declined to reinstate the murder conviction of a man accused of clubbing his girlfriend’s husband to death, saying a mistrial should have been declared when testimony that implicated only the woman was erroneously introduced at the ...

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The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand without comment the carjacking conviction of a Baltimore man who led police on a high-speed chase into Fort Meade five years ago in a stolen vehicle. The justices declined to hear Dontae ...

Tagged with: carjacking cell phone search fourth amendment Supreme Court

Cellphones should not be treated like garbage, a digital-privacy group stated Friday in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the appeal of a man who led police on a high-speed car chase into Fort Meade before being convicted of ...

Tagged with: California v. Greenwood cellphone digital privacy fourth amendment