Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

D.Mass.: USMJ does not buy officer's version of stop

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

USMJ does not accept that there was cause for defendant's stop, either as a traffic offense or that there was reasonable suspicion for the stop. Then it was overly long. United States v. Alix, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56955 (D. Mass. June 30, 2009)*: Candidly, most of the opinions involving time and duration challenges to car stops sustain the actions of the police under various rationale, but there must be limits. One can pretend that the stop is justified as a traffic stop, so long as the car was actually violating the law. One can do what is necessary to learn about the occupants during the stop -- questioning, asking for documentation -- so long as one acts consistent with the limited information he has. What one cannot do is carry the stop beyond its rationale...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 08, 2009 (boomark / email).