Collect Call with Lawstache

The Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures extends to the brief investigatory stop of a vehicle. United States v. Brignoni–Ponce, 422 U.S. 873, 878, 95 S.Ct. 2574, 2578–79, 45 L.Ed.2d 607 (1975). An officer may not detain *246 a motorist without a showing of “reasonable suspicion.” Rodriguez, 976 F.2d at 594. This “objective basis, or ‘reasonable suspicion,’ must...

Following a traffic stop, officers searched Brandon Lance Lee's car without a warrant and discovered 56 grams of cocaine, a firearm, and other items associated with selling narcotics. After Lee was charged with various drug and weapons offenses, he filed a motion to suppress the evidence obtained from the warrantless vehicle search. The trial court granted Lee's motion, rejecting the Peo...

The Fourth Amendment guards “against unreasonable searches and seizures.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. To challenge the legality of a search under the Fourth Amendment, a criminal defendant must prove that he has a “legitimate expectation of privacy” in the item or area searched.  “A person who is aggrieved by an illegal search ... of a third person's premises or property has not had any of his Fou...

"[S]ection 21310 makes it a criminal offense to carry `concealed upon the person any dirk or dagger.'" (People v. Castillolopez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 322, 327 [202 Cal. Rptr.3d 703, 371 P.3d 216]; see § 21310 ["any person in this state who carries concealed upon the person any dirk or dagger" commits a criminal offense punishable as a felony or misdemeanor].) Section 16470 def...

Penal Code section 16470 defines a dirk or dagger as "a knife or other instrument with or without a handguard that is capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon that may inflict great bodily injury or death." (Ibid. ) This definitional language is immediately followed by an exemption: "A nonlocking folding knife, a folding knife that is not prohibited by Section 21510[, i.e., a switc...

In prosecution for willfully and unlawfuly carrying concealed weapon and for willfully and unlawfully carrying loaded firearm in a public place, the Municipal Court, Los Angeles Judicial District, Ronald Schoenberg, J., granted defendant's motion to suppress evidence on ground that discovery of firearm resulted from unlawful search and seizure. State appealed. The Court of Appeal, Johnson, J....

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures of persons, including unreasonable investigative stops. With respect to seizures, “[a] seizure occurs whenever a police officer ‘by means of physical force or show of authority’ restrains the liberty of a person to walk away.” It is well settled that the driver of a vehicle that is the subject of a...