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S.D.Ga.: Roadblock on interstate highway to nab fleeing bank robber was reasonable, almost per se

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

A roadblock set up to catch a fleeing bank robber was constitutional, and the court denied subpoenas on the constitutional question before the suppression hearing. “See City of Indianapolis v. Edmond, 531 U.S. 32. 44 (2000) ('[T]he Fourth Amendment would almost certainly permit an appropriately tailored roadblock set up to ... catch a dangerous criminal who is likely to flee by way of a particular route.’).” At the suppression hearing, the defendant tried to show the traffic backup made it unconstitutional, but the court finds that traffic backing up for 10 miles with a 20-30 minute delay alone does not make it so. Merrett v. Dempsey, 1993 WL 774466 (N.D. Fla. Apr. 2, 1993), aff'd, Merrett v. Moore, 58 F.3d 1547 (11th Cir. 1995)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on July 05, 2010 (boomark / email).