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US high court: warrant needed for GPS tracking
Law Firm News |
2012/01/23 10:53
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that police must get a search warrant before using GPS technology to track criminal suspects.
The ruling represents a serious complication for law enforcement nationwide, which increasingly relies on high tech surveillance of suspects, including the use of various types of satellite technology.
A GPS device installed by police on Washington nightclub owner Antoine Jones' Jeep helped them link him to a suburban house used to stash money and drugs. He was sentenced to life in prison before the appeals court overturned the conviction.
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia said that the government's installation of a GPS device, and its use to monitor the vehicle's movements, constitutes a search, meaning that a warrant is required. |
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Court throws out judge-drawn Texas electoral maps
Legal Information |
2012/01/21 10:14
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The Supreme Court on Friday threw out electoral maps drawn by federal judges in Texas that favored minorities. The decision ultimately could affect control of the U.S. House of Representatives and leaves the fate of Texas' April primaries unclear.
The justices ordered the three-judge court in San Antonio to come up with new plans that pay more attention to maps created by Texas' Republican-dominated state Legislature. All four of the state's new congressional seats could swing based on the outcome.
But the Supreme Court did not compel the use of the state's maps in this year's elections, as Texas wanted. Only Justice Clarence Thomas said he would have gone that far.
The court's unsigned opinion thus did not blaze any new trails in election law or signal retreat from a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, as some supporters of the law feared would result from this case.
Still, the outcome appeared to favor Republicans by instructing the judges to stick more closely to what the Legislature did, said election law expert Richard Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, law school. |
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Police witnesses called in fake 'Rockefeller' case
Law Firm News |
2012/01/20 10:14
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A Superior Court judge testified in a murder case against a man who posed as an heir to the Rockefeller fortune, saying that more than two decades ago he lent a chain saw to the defendant while the two were living in San Marino.
William Stewart said he was a lawyer when Christian Gerhartsreiter, then known as Christopher Chichester, asked to borrow an electric chain saw in late 1984 or early 1985.
He said he had a problem with a branch on a tree that was scratching a window, Stewart said Thursday.
Stewart, who met the defendant at his church, said Chichester kept the tool for several months, returning it just before leaving town in the spring of 1985.
The hearing for Gerhartsreiter will determine whether there is enough evidence to put him on trial for the apparent bludgeoning death of John Sohus that only came to light when the victim's bones were dug up at the former home of John and Linda Sohus in 1994, nearly 10 years after the couple vanished. Gerhartsreiter was a tenant in the guesthouse at the home. |
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Pacman Jones pleads guilty to disorderly conduct
Law Firm Press Release |
2012/01/18 10:10
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Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Adam Pacman Jones pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.
Jones entered the plea in Hamilton County Municipal Court just as his non-jury trial was scheduled to begin. A second misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest was dismissed in a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Judge Brad Greenberg ordered Jones to serve a year of probation, complete 50 hours of community service and pay a $250 fine plus court costs. Jones could have received a maximum jail sentence of 30 days.
Jones, 28, was accused in court documents of being disorderly, shouting profanities and trying to pull away as officers arrested him at a downtown bar in July.
At the time, Jones was on probation in Las Vegas in connection with a 2007 no contest plea to a strip club melee that left three people wounded. He was ordered in November to perform an additional 75 hours of community service for violating that probation with the Cincinnati arrest. |
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