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DeWolfe appeals drug-sniffing dog case to Supreme Court
Maryland Public Defender Paul B. DeWolfe has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn the state high court’s decision requiring appellate courts to defer to trial judges’ determinations – unless clearly wrong — that a drug-sniffing dog was reliable, saying the reliability issue is too constitutionally significant to leave unreviewed. In papers filed […]
Marijuana smell provides probable cause to arrest, Md. court says
Police officers have probable cause to arrest someone for marijuana possession if they smell the drug clearly on the person -- even though possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana is not a crime in Maryland, the state’s second-highest court very reluctantly ruled Thursday.
Supreme Court declines Baltimore’s appeal in ‘Charles Village rapist’ case
The Supreme Court let stand without comment Monday a $2.3 million jury award to a man wrongfully jailed for 15 months as the “Charles Village rapist” in Baltimore.
Wrongfully jailed man urges Supreme Court to reject Baltimore’s appeal
A man wrongfully jailed for 15 months as the “Charles Village rapist” is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand a $2.3 million award he received from a jury that concluded Baltimore police lacked probable cause to arrest him.
Baltimore appeals ‘Charles Village rapist’ case to Supreme Court
Citing the city’s violence, attorneys for Baltimore are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out a $2.3 million jury award to a city resident who was wrongfully held in jail for 15 months as the “Charles Village rapist,” saying a lower court erroneously concluded the police officers lacked probable cause to make an arrest. […]
Md. high court considers whether drug-detecting dogs deserve deference
ANNAPOLIS – Appellate courts should review anew the qualifications of drug-sniffing dogs when determining if police had probable cause to search a vehicle based on the canines’ whiff, a defense attorney said Thursday in urging Maryland’s top court to question why officers accepted the olfactory findings of a dog that had confused coffee and air […]
Marijuana smell gives police probable cause to search, Md. high court says
The smell of marijuana emanating from a car gives police officers probable cause to search the vehicle, Maryland’s high court unanimously rules.
Opinions – 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: 8/1/11
Constitutional Law Qualified immunity BOTTOM LINE: Although it was clearly established that intrusive prison employee searches require reasonable suspicion, it was far from clear that the body-scanning devices at issue here could not meet that standard. CASE: Braun, et al., v. Maynard, et al., No. 10-1401 (decided July 21, 2011) (Judges WILKINSON, Shedd & Norton). […]
Law digest: 6/13/11
COURT OF APPEALS Constitutional Law, Waiver of counsel: Because the defendant was not informed of the range of allowable punishments for the charges against him, including applicable enhanced penalties, his waiver of counsel was invalid. Lopez v. State, No. 24, Sept. Term 2008. RecordFax No. 11-0525-20. COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS Criminal Procedure, Probable cause: Where […]
Opinions: Court of Special Appeals – 6/13/11
Criminal Procedure Probable cause BOTTOM LINE: Where police officers did not have probable cause to believe that defendant was in possession of controlled substances or drug paraphernalia found in a lockbox in an apartment he was visiting, the trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress. CASE: Belote v. State, No. 2633, Sept.Term 2009 […]
Jury deliberates in suit against Baltimore police officers
After a week of trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court, it is now up to a jury to decide whether four men who were frisked and detained for about an hour in a Westside bar while another patron was arrested were merely inconvenienced or are instead owed money damages. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the […]
Justices to pot users: Be careful when you flush
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court isn’t given to offering advice to people who are breaking the law, even in a minor way. But some justices on Wednesday effectively told those who might be sitting at home smoking pot when the police come knocking: Do not flush the toilet. Because if officers smell the pot from […]
