Right to Privacy and Cell Phone Evidence

By: Wallin & Klarich

Today’s so-called Smart Phones hold a great deal of information that has little relevance to phone calls. As such, some argue that police should be required to obtain a search warrant before inspecting the contents of a cell phone. They submit that obtaining evidence from cell phones without a warrant amounts to a violation of …

Posted In: Search and Seizure Law

New Law Allows Prison Officials to Search Property Left in a Locker Without a Warrant

By: Wallin & Klarich

The Court of Appeals in Los Angeles has just ruled that a visitor to an inmate has no expectation of privacy in any item that they may place in a jail or prison locker. On September 29. 2011 the court ruled in People vs. Boulter that if you decide to place any item in a …

Posted In: Search and Seizure Law

Street encounters with police occur with varying degrees of coercion. An encounter with police is best understood by breaking it down into three categories:

By: Wallin & Klarich

(1) Where a citizen feels “free to leave” and terminate the encounter at will. Here, there has been no “detention” under the law. This falls outside the scope of Fourth Amendment protections prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures of a person, their home, papers, and effects; (2) Brief “seizures”, which triggers Fourth Amendment protections and also …

Posted In: Search and Seizure Law

Police Can Legally Stop a Vehicle in California Even If a Temporary Operating Permit Attached To a Rear Window

By: Wallin & Klarich

The California appellate court has held that even though a vehicle does in fact have a temporary operating permit displayed somewhere on the vehicle, if the police officer does not see the temporary operating permit, and the vehicle does not have license plates, then the stop of the vehicle is legal. People v. Dotson ﴾3rd …

Posted In: Criminal Defense

Police Entry into Residence Without a Warrant – What is the “Emergency Exception” to the Warrant Requirement? (Part 2)

By: Wallin & Klarich

In general, police must have a warrant before entering a residence. Of course, certain exceptions apply to the general rule which requires a warrant before entry. One such exception is known as the, “emergency exception.” The emergency exception is often used by police and prosecutors to justify a warrantless entry. Hiring a Riverside criminal defense …

Posted In: Criminal Defense