LEGAL COMMENTARIES ON PAST JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Reviewed May 2005

The following is a series of links to legal commentaries concerning past judicial decisions that affect the work of the law enforcement officer. Law enforcement officials not from North Carolina should consult with their legal advisors to determine whether there are peculiarities in their state laws appropriate to these articles.


CASE COMMENTS:

State v. Fowler
Body Cavity Searches

United States v. Dunn
Four Factor Test to Determine the Curtilage of Residential Property

Colorado v. Bertine
When a Warrantless Search is Constitutional: Inventory Search is Generally Allowed When Law Enforcement Agency Policy is Reasonable and Officer Follows It.

State v. Outlaw
Under Certain Circumstances, It is the Felony of Trafficking in Controlled Substances to Transport that Substance from One Place on a Property to Another Place on the Same Property

State v. Aubin
Determination of Reasonable Suspicion

State v. Jones
Authority to Make an Investigative Stop

U.S. v. Stanfield
During Traffic Stops When Law Enforcement Officers Are Required To Approach A Vehicle Whose Windows Are So Heavily Tinted They Are Unable To View The Interior, The Officers May Open A Door and Look Inside

State v. Alston
Enforcing the Controlled Substances Law Within 300 Feet of an Elementary or Secondary School or the Boundary Thereof

Oregon v. Bradshaw
Two Part Test Must Be Met If A Court Is To Admit A Statement A Suspect Makes After Asserting A Right To Counsel

Edwards v. Arizona
Assertion of the Right to Counsel

State v. Chapman
Length of Time You May Hold a Defendant After Arrest Before Taking Him To a Magistrate

Rhode Island v. Innis
Definition of Interrogation for the Purpose of Miranda

Dunaway v. New York
You May Not Transport a Suspect Based on Reasonable Suspicion Alone

Terry v. Ohio
The Original Stop and Frisk Case

Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson
Sexual Harassment

State v. Hester
You May be Asked, During Trial, What Your Methods were in Securing a Confession, and Whether You Deviated from your Usual Methods During the Interrogation

Illinois v. Perkins
Waiver of Miranda Rights Not Needed Before a Prisoner in Jail if Asked Questions by an Undercover Officer Who is Posing as a Cellmate if Questioning Occurs Before Sixth Amendment Rights Have Attached.

Stansbury v. California
What an Officer is Thinking Does Not Determine Custody. What an Officer Says and How He Behaves Does Determine Custody!

Escobedo v. Illinois
Escobedo is Not the Controlling Case on when a Suspect is in Custody for the Purposes of Miranda, that is, Focus of Suspicion on a Suspect is Not, in of itself, Custody

State v. Jackson
A North Carolina Nondisclosure of a Confidential Informant Case

U.S. v. Roviaro
Original Nondisclosure of a Confidential Informant Case