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Recent Blog Posts
Supreme Court to decide if GPS tracking is a search
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of an East Coast nightclub owner. The man was accused of trafficking cocaine. Law enforcement agents covertly attached a GPS tracking device to the man's Jeep without first obtaining a search warrant. Law enforcement eventually seized nearly 100 kilograms of cocaine through information learned from the GPS device. A federal appeals court reversed the man's conviction, saying the extended use of the GPS tracking device during the investigation was a "search" deserving some protection under the Fourth Amendment.
A separate case, here on the West Coast, turned the other way on appeal. Police in Oregon entered a man's property and attached a GPS device to the man's vehicle. Law enforcement reportedly tracked the man to a remote property through the GPS unit and discovered a marijuana cultivation site.
The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled the use of the GPS device was not a search and upheld the marijuana cultivation conviction. The U.S. Supreme Court did not take any action regarding the West Coast case.
Supreme Court rules for defendant in DUI case
In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled that a crime lab report was sufficiently similar to testimony. The case involved drug charges. The lab report stated the results of tests showed that a substance was cocaine. The Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors could not introduce the lab report as evidence in the criminal trial without a live witness that was competent to testify to the truth of the statements made in the report under the Sixth Amendment to the Constitution.
Thursday the Supreme Court ruled that the live witness cannot be anyone but the original lab analysts who conducted the laboratory test. Thursday's ruling involved a DUI case where prosecutors introduced a lab report showing the results of a blood test drawn after a DUI arrest. Prosecutors had a live witness testify as to the statements made in the lab report, but the live witness had not conducted the original analysis.
California couple charged with DUI after dispute in parking lot
Two people have been charged with driving under the influence involving the same car after an alleged incident over the Father's Day weekend. Police allege the couple attended a party in Northridge on Saturday and consumed sufficient alcohol to raise their blood alcohol content above the legal limit in California. Each has been charged with California DUI charges and child endangerment.
Police say a Glendale woman called police to report that her boyfriend had driven off from a restaurant parking lot as she was attempting to place her daughter in the vehicle. The woman stopped to get something to eat after attending the party in Northridge. Police say the woman's boyfriend was sleeping in the car while the woman and the couple's daughter went inside to eat.
The 43-year-old Glendale man reportedly woke up in the back seat of the car and grew angry because his girlfriend was eating without him. Police say the man grabbed the car keys and drove off. Police say the woman submitted to a breath test, which returned results of .18 and .19. Police arrested the woman early Sunday on suspicion of driving under the influence and child endangerment, alleging the woman drove with her 4-year-old daughter in the car. The woman reportedly was released Sunday after posting a $100,000 bond.
California medical parole approved for three men under new law
California's three strikes law has been around since 1994. Since the law was passed, no inmate serving a 25 year to life three strikes sentence has received parole through a California Board of Parole hearing, until this week. Wednesday the Board of Parole Hearings granted parole to a 48-year-old man who was sentenced in 2007 to 68 years in prison under the California three strikes law after a conviction for a home invasion robbery.
The parole board approved the release of the inmate under a new California law aimed at reducing prison costs. The law allows the board to consider medical parole for inmates who are so ill that the state considers the inmates are no longer a threat to the community.
Prison officials reportedly refused to discuss to specific details about the man's health. The man is in a long term care facility. Guarding the inmate at the facility reportedly costs $750,000 a year; medical costs to cover his care are an additional expense the state seeks to save through the medical parole.
DUI, drug sentencing delayed in former California deputy case
A former Orange County deputy was scheduled for sentencing Friday after pleading guilty in April to 12 felonies. Before the sentencing hearing, a court bailiff reportedly told prosecutors the 37-year-old man smelled of alcohol. The sentencing hearing was postponed and the judge increased bail from $100,000 to $250,000 in the matter.
The man pled guilty to nine felony counts for lying to doctors to obtain prescription drugs, two counts of selling fake drugs and one felony DUI charge. The man also pled guilty to a sentencing enhancement for causing great bodily harm in a March 1, 2010 DUI accident.
Police had claimed the man was involved in two separate accidents within 33 minutes. Deputies had let the man leave after the first accident without allegations of DUI arising. The man pled guilty to causing great bodily injury in the second accident. Deputies investigating the second accident arrested the man on suspicion of a California DUI.
Bay Area man charged with DUI on three consecutive days
A 50-year-old Mill Valley man was arrested on three consecutive days in three separate Bay Area cities for suspicion of DUI. The man appeared in Marin Superior Court Wednesday on two charges of DUI. The man asked for a court hearing to be scheduled on June 20. That is the day the man is scheduled to appear in San Francisco on a third California DUI charge. The DA argued against scheduling the hearing on the same day as the San Francisco hearing. The judge denied the request and scheduled the next appearance in Marin for June 21. The man had hoped to have the three cases processed on the same day.
The allegations initially arose last month when the Mill Valley man was arrested outside a San Rafael bank on suspicion of drunk driving and allegations of driving with a blood alcohol level of .01 while on probation. The very next day the man was stopped in San Francisco and again arrested on suspicion of DUI.
The third consecutive day took the man to Novato. A woman says the man was staggering near his car and asked for a ride to Burger King. The man reportedly got into his Volkswagen Beetle and drove off. A police officer says he saw the Beetle make a wide turn. The officer conducted a traffic stop. The man was arrested for DUI for the third consecutive day.
Report of burglary in progress leads to pot discovery
Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department first arrived at the site of the alleged attempted break-in. The deputies called the El Monte Police Department. The five people were arrested around 11:30 a.m. Saturday on suspicion of commercial burglary.
Police say one the people taken into custody said there was a marijuana cultivation operation inside the warehouse. Police believe the group of five people knew of the operation and were specifically targeting the marijuana.
El Monte Police reportedly obtained a search warrant for the building. Law enforcement says they discovered roughly 3,000 pot plants growing inside the warehouse. The street value of the marijuana reportedly is about $1 million.
Police say seven large rooms inside the warehouse were involved in the alleged pot growing operation. The sophisticated system includes ventilation, filtration and hydroponic equipment. Investigators reportedly are trying to determine who is linked to the pot growing operation. No arrests have been made related to the alleged marijuana cultivation operation.
Numerous DUI checkpoints conducted in Santa Cruz and Monterey over the holiday
Law enforcement in California set up a number of DUI checkpoints over the Memorial Day holiday. Police say three people were arrested for DUI at a checkpoint that was set up over a four hour period Monday night in Salinas.
Police reportedly stopped a total of 652 vehicles during the checkpoint operation. Seven people were subjected to field sobriety tests, with three drivers arrested on suspicion of DUI. Law enforcement agencies set up a number of DUI checkpoints all over Monterey County and Santa Cruz County throughout the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
The DUI checkpoints often result in a variety of charges related to alleged motor vehicle code violations. During the Salinas DUI checkpoint operation, a 21-year-old man was stopped for alleged traffic violations. Police say the man has previously been deported twice. Law enforcement says the man has a felony record. Police say they contacted Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and placed the 21-year-old on an immigration hold.
Man arrested in another state faces extradition to California
On Friday morning a Florida police officer believed a car was parked in an unusual spot. Police claim the officer approached the vehicle and asked the five people in the car what they were up to. The officer says the five people gave conflicting stories. She says she believes one of the occupants of the car was involved in some king of drug related activities. The officer called for backup and a K-9 handler to have the dog conduct a sniff search of the vehicle. The dog reportedly alerted during the sniff search.
As it turns out, one of the occupants in the car had an outstanding warrant from California. The 25-year-old is believed to have violated parole in California. Moreover, law enforcement in Los Angeles claims the man is wanted in a relation to charges in a number of alleged California burglaries.
Los Angeles police believe the man may be implicated in potentially hundreds of burglaries in Southern California. Police say the man, along with others would knock on the front door of residences during the daytime. If no one responded from inside the residence, police say the group would break into the home and take items, including jewelry, money and guns they found inside.
Federal appeals court overturns California murder conviction
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the murder conviction of a California woman Monday. The federal appellate court held that the woman was denied the right to a fair trial. California state courts and one federal judge previously had upheld the conviction.
The matter began with allegations in October 1993. Police claim the woman was driving a car in Long Beach on an October afternoon casing stores with friends, intending to return later that night and commit a California robbery.
The woman reportedly drove into a liquor store parking lot. Police allege two of the woman's friends got out of the car and entered the liquor store. Law enforcement claims the two came out of the store, when one went back in, robbed the store and shot the proprietor, killing him. The woman reportedly waited in the car during the alleged incident.
Law enforcement claims the woman admitted casing the stores, but the plan was to commit the California robberies later that night, after dark. The woman denied guilt and took the matter to trial before a jury. At the conclusion of evidence the jury deliberated the facts of the case.
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