US growers take note of this Supreme Court ruling!

[ItsGrowTime]

The US Supreme Court ruled today that a "simple police mistake" now trumps the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution. If a police officer raids your house accidentally then all evidence they obtain as part of the "mistake" is now ADMISSIBLE as evidence against you. The highest court in the land has stated that your 4th Amendment right is now void if a cop makes a mistake (or FAKES a mistake).

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090114/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_evidence

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Wednesday that evidence obtained after illegal searches or arrests based on simple police mistakes may be used to prosecute criminal defendants.

The justices split 5-4 along ideological lines to apply new limits to the court's so-called exclusionary rule, which generally requires evidence to be suppressed if it results from a violation of a suspect's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches or seizure.

The conservative majority acknowledged that the arrest of Bennie Dean Herring of Alabama — based on the mistaken belief that there was a warrant for his arrest — violated his constitutional rights, yet upheld his conviction on federal drug and gun charges.

Coffee County, Ala., sheriff's deputies found amphetamines in Herring's pockets and an unloaded gun in his truck when they conducted a search following his arrest. It turned out that the warrant from neighboring Dale County had been recalled five months earlier, but the county sheriff's computers had not been updated.

Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the evidence may be used "when police mistakes are the result of negligence such as that described here, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements."

Justices Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas sided with Roberts.

In a dissent for the other four justices, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said the ruling "leaves Herring, and others like him, with no remedy for violations of their constitutional rights."

Ginsburg said accurate police record-keeping is of paramount importance, particularly with the widespread use of electronic databases. Justices Stephen Breyer, David Souter and John Paul Stevens also dissented.

Herring was arrested after a Coffee sheriff's employee asked her counterpart in Dale County whether Herring, called "no stranger to law enforcement" by Roberts, was wanted in Dale. An arrest warrant had been issued in Dale, but it had been recalled by July 2004.

The sheriff's electronic records, however, showed it was still a valid warrant.

Acting on that information, Coffee County deputies arrested and searched Herring.

The Dale employee meanwhile discovered the warrant was no longer valid and called Coffee County to say so. But it was too late for Herring.

Some courts have ruled that as a deterrent to police misconduct, the fruits of a similar search may be excluded from evidence.

But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta said that suppressing evidence in Herring's case would be unlikely to deter sloppy record keeping.

The case is Herring v. U.S., 07-513.

Lots of "simple police mistakes" coming soon.

 

[SrPlantManager]

Oh joy... the just keep chippin' away.

Sad thing is, by the time most americans realize they're being screwed by the pooch, it'll be far too late to do much more than watch our so-called 'liberties' swirling down the commode. Seems our 'rights' just about aren't worth the paper they're written on... but we could always roll up the Constitution and Bill of Rights and SMOKE 'em.

Only in the good 'ol USofA!

Thanks for posting IGT

 

[magiccannabus]

Becoming scum in the pursuit of scum. Way to go America!

 

[guest]

So then is it legal to stop an "accident" in progress?

How are citizens supposed to protect themselves legally from police "accidents?"

 

[guest]

With that, I don't know if this is the United States any more. It may be gone now.

What ever was left of the idea of limited government is now gone. A very sad day.

"America, where are you now? Don't you care about your sons and daughters? Don't you know, we need you now. We can't fight alone against the monster."

 

[tgpfarm]

WOW, so everything that I have read about illegal searches is now out the window. Police can now do whatever they feel like and get away with it.

 

[ShoeboxSherman]

Spain is a pretty nice place to live, so I hear.

 

[SDOG]

Theres gonna be alot more accidents if ya know what i mean. This country is a fucking joke

 

[VirginHarvester]

WOW, so everything that I have read about illegal searches is now out the window. Police can now do whatever they feel like and get away with it.

Seems like it. I don't know how far reaching this ruling is but it seems to me to set precedent prosecutors and law enforcement can use in their defense, and the people's demise. All they have to say I suppose is that they thought he was someone else or thought they saw something and investigated it, right? It seems to specifically say they can make mistakes, create probable cause for an illegal search by tying you to an incident or event or circumstance, mistakenly.

What shocks me is the conservative position should be to protect the Constitution, the liberal to weaken it. This to me seems like a conservative blunder that potentially grossly weakens our rights. It might seem rather cynical but this is a step towards a police state.

 

[WoW maannnn]

aye, espania...

 

[magiccannabus]

Blunder, this was no blunder. I suggest the lot of you arm yourselves or just never get spotted, because you're free game now.

 

[VirginHarvester]

Most Americans will accept this you know because after all, he did have amphetamines and a gun. Don't know what kind of drug he had but to most people they believe amphetamines equals meth and that if a warrant issued months earlier this guy's obviously a bad apple so best the police got him now. I can understand that line of thinking. But that thinking went the same way when the Nazis were rounding up people in the 30s and 40s.

"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

I realize that is a stretch at this point but it's worthy of note. See, I'm fairly conservative especially constitutionally and they should adhere to the constitution. The liberals and the conservatives seem to be set on change of the constitution. They'll just against each other changing their own bits and pieces until it resembles a coat a drunk wears with all kinds of little cigarette burns and tears.

 

[PharmaCan]

Seems like it. I don't know how far reaching this ruling is but it seems to me to set precedent prosecutors and law enforcement can use in their defense, and the people's demise. All they have to say I suppose is that they thought he was someone else or thought they saw something and investigated it, right? It seems to specifically say they can make mistakes, create probable cause for an illegal search by tying you to an incident or event or circumstance, mistakenly.

What shocks me is the conservative position should be to protect the Constitution, the liberal to weaken it. This to me seems like a conservative blunder that potentially grossly weakens our rights. It might seem rather cynical but this is a step towards a police state.

Dude, it's SCOTUS, it doesn't get any higher reaching than that. Anyone connected with/appointed by Bush is not a conservative. They live in some kind of netherworld where the war on drugs trumps the constitution. They advocate a Russian-style Oligarchy, a government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. Controlling the remnants of the middle class is a necessary step in maintaining order. I agree with you, this is a very big step towards a police state; it would seem to give government dangerous powers.

PC

 

[DoobieDuck]

Ouch! DD

 

[UBER21]

Might as well throw all our freaking rights out the window......America's becoming the next 3rd world country....Im moving to Komodo island and taking my chances with the dragons than here......straight horse shit.......

 

[GeneticHeirloom]

Illegal Searches and Seizures... now LEGAL in U.S. Watch out guys

Illegal Searches and Seizures... now LEGAL in U.S. Watch out guys

Just FYI.. it's now legal for police to use the evidence gathered from you even if it was gotten illegally.

"WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Wednesday that evidence obtained after illegal searches or arrests based on simple police mistakes may be used to prosecute criminal defendants.

The justices split 5-4 along ideological lines to apply new limits to the court's so-called exclusionary rule, which generally requires evidence to be suppressed if it results from a violation of a suspect's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches or seizure."

http://fe11.story.media.ac4.yahoo.com/news/us/story/ap/20090114/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_evidence

So where does the "Accident" factor lie?
How easily can this be manipulated?

"Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the evidence may be used "when police mistakes are the result of negligence such as that described here, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements."

How well will that line be upheld? Who and how do they determine if a cop was making a mistake or if it was a systemic error? I'm pretty damn sure a cop can make a systemic error look like negligence, hell look at the kid on the BART who got shot and killed by a cop who supposedly and accidentally was reaching for his taser when he grabbed his gun and executed the kid... there's a huge debate on it when the real debate is why the hell did the cop take out his taser on a kid who has two cops on his neck and back while he's facedown on pavement?

 

[GeneticHeirloom]

crap realized this has been posted in the other forum. sry admins

 

[Uncle FREEDOM]

As soon as we get rid of all those PESKY rights and let the police "do their job" we will all be safe and happy.

Ouch i think i just bit my tongue LOL

Really people what do you expect, you americans are force fed fear on a daily basis. Fear has been used since time immortal to take away your rights.

Until you guys take back the country that i lived across the boarder from and loved to visit, because i sure do not recognize it any more, this will continue. Your shows, feed you fear on a nightly basis. You news would have you believe there is a child molester or a mass murderer on each block. Your government spies on you, for your own protection. ALL of these and more are meant to make you afraid so you demand the government DO SOMETHING about it...

What's a few rights if it MIGHT make you safer. Rights only protect the bad guys anyway.

from v for vendetta...."if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"

 

[GeneticHeirloom]

From my thread in the other forum (Which was by mistake lol)

So where does the "Accident" factor lie?
How easily can this be manipulated?

"Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the court, said the evidence may be used "when police mistakes are the result of negligence such as that described here, rather than systemic error or reckless disregard of constitutional requirements."

How well will that line be upheld? Who and how do they determine if a cop was making a mistake or if it was a systemic error? I'm pretty damn sure a cop can make a systemic error look like negligence.


This actually reminds me of this one scene in Scanner Darkly where the man in a business suit with a megaphone stands on the corner and talks about the gov. removing rights and arresting its own people while causing the drug issues and then he gets whisked away in a black van with SWAT while people watch and say nothing.

On another forum I visit, most of the idiots are cheering this removal of rights... pretty fucked up situation.

 

[GeneticHeirloom]

Until you guys take back the country that i lived across the boarder from and loved to visit, because i sure do not recognize it any more, this will continue. Your shows, feed you fear on a nightly basis. You news would have you believe there is a child molester or a mass murderer on each block. Your government spies on you, for your own protection. ALL of these and more are meant to make you afraid so you demand the government DO SOMETHING about it...

I have watched the U.S for the past 10 years now and couldn't agree more.

It has blown me away to see how quickly that country has changed and it's not for good.