Federal Defenders of New York Second Circuit Blog

Fourth Amendment

“Unrelated inquiries that prolong or add time to a traffic stop violate the Fourth Amendment absent reasonable suspicion of a separate crime.”

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The title is the holding of today’s Second Circuit opinion in United States v. Gomez (Parker, Wesley, Droney) (on appeal from D. Conn.). Specifically, the Circuit held that (1) the Fourth Amendment was violated when officers prolonged a minutes-long traffic stop to investigate matters unrelated to the pretextual basis for the stop, but that (2) … Read more

This Week’s Cert. Grants

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The Supreme Court has recently granted certiorari in three First Amendment cases relevant to criminal practice: Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida, No. 17-21 Question presented: Does the existence of probable cause defeat a First Amendment retaliatory-arrest claim as a matter of law? Cert. papers and opinion below available here: http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/lozman-v-city-riviera-beach-florida/ Minnesota Voters Alliance … Read more

Recent Cert. Grants

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The Supreme Court granted certiorari on a number of criminal cases in orders from its September 25 conference. The details are below, courtesy of Sentencing Resource Counsel: City of Hays, Kansas v. Vogt, No. 16-1495 Question Presented: Whether the Fifth Amendment is violated when statements are used at a probable cause hearing but not at … Read more

Nuanced Second Circuit Opinion on Dissipated Probable Cause & McLaughlin Violations

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The Second Circuit issued two criminal opinions today, both of which we will cover this week. In one, United States v. Pabon, the Circuit rejected a set of Fourth Amendment challenges where police obtained a CT scan which revealed that the defendant was body-packing narcotics. The opinion, available here, is as notable for what it does … Read more

Judge Nathan Grants Suppression in Fraud Case

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Southern District Judge Alison Nathan suppressed evidence obtained as a result of “essentially limitless” warrants that were “insufficiently particularized.”  The 92-page opinion in United States v. Wey,  15-cr-611 (AJN), can be accessed here.  Agents executing the searches collected, among other things, personal documents and materials from Wey’s home and office.  The Court found that the “catch-all” gathering … Read more

“Exigent Circumstances” Includes Potential Sexual Exploitation of a Minor; Allows for GPS Cellphone Tracking

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On 12/1/16, the Second Circuit (Newman, Winter & Cabranes) handed down a decision finding that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless GPS tracking of a suspected sex trafficker. In United States v. Gilliam, the defendant, who was suspected of prostituting an underage girl, was located thanks to GPS coordinates on his cellphone provided to the police by … Read more

“Precipitous Pepper Purchase” Precludes Pot Pushers’ Partying

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In today’s United States v. Compton, the Second Circuit (Walker, Raggi, Hall, C.JJ.) held a Border Patrol agent had reasonable suspicion to stop Compton and his brother, found to be transporting 145 pounds of marijuana, based on “(1) the brothers’ avoidance of [a Border Patrol] checkpoint, (2) the checkpoint’s proximity to the [Canadian] border, and (3) the brothers’ … Read more

Supreme Court Again Excuses “Unconstitutional Police Conduct”

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In yesterday’s Utah v. Strieff, five of the eight members of the Supreme Court held the existence of an arrest warrant for someone a police officer unlawfully stops sufficiently “attenuates” the taint of the illegal stop, at least where the stop is not “flagrantly” unconstitutional. Based on an anonymous tip, a South Salt Lake City police detective conducted … Read more

More Thoughts on Ganias

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Today there was a big decision (both metaphorically and literally – the decision runs 104-pages) from the Second Circuit in United States v. Ganias about search warrants in an age of digital data. In Ganias, the government seized and made identical copies of three hard drives that belonged to an accountant, Stavros Ganias, pursuant to … Read more