The Constitutional right to privacy prevents the police from entering a person’s home to search for drugs or other evidence except in certain circumstances. If the police have a valid search warrant or someone with authorization gives the police consent to enter and search the house, that is one thing,…
Articles Posted in Search and Seizure
When Police Can Search a Person With No Probable Cause and No Crime in Florida
Normally in Florida, the police can only search a person if he/she has committed a crime, the police have consent to search or the police have specific, reliable evidence that the person is in possession of evidence of a crime such as drugs or a gun. However, there are circumstances…
Florida Court Affirms Questionable Basis for Search of Suspected Marijuana Grow House
In a recent trafficking in cannabis/marijuana case in South Florida, the police received an anonymous tip that a house was being used to grow marijuana plants. The police went to the suspected marijuana grow house to investigate further. It is clear that the police cannot search a house based on…
Domestic Violence Victim Gave Police Legal Basis to Search Car for Gun in Florida Case
In most cases in Florida, the police cannot search a person’s property without a search warrant or consent to search. Probable cause alone is often insufficient for a search. However, there are situations where a search warrant or consent to search are not needed. In a recent case near Jacksonville,…
In Florida, Running When Seeing Police Can Be a Basis for a Stop.
Can the police detain a person just because he/she ran from the police? Of course, if the police had a legitimate basis to tell the person to stop and the person ran, then the police would have a legal basis to catch and detain the person. That would require specific…
In Florida, Can a Police Officer Search a Person’s Cell Phone After an Arrest Without a Search Warrant?
In this day and age, cell phones can contain an abundance of evidence that could be used by the state to incriminate a defendant, including texts, emails, pictures, contacts, phone numbers, website searches and map locations. We have discussed several cases dealing with when the police can search a person’s…
Police Officer Can Request Driver’s License But Must Give it Back Before Getting Consent to Search
The search and seizure laws deal with when, and under what circumstances, police officers can search a person or his/her property for drugs or other evidence of criminal activity. A general rule is that the police officer can ask a person if he/she can conduct a search and if the…
Federal Government Using New Technology to Track People By Their Cell Phones
The United States Constitution, along with the Florida Constitution, protects people from unreasonable searches and seizures. There are many cases decided by state and federal courts which elaborate on what is a legal search and seizure by the police and what violates a person’s right to privacy under the Constitution.…
Concerned Citizen can Be Basis for a Traffic (and DUI) Stop in Florida
Most traffic stops, whether it is just a traffic ticket situation or one that leads to criminal charges like DUI or possession of drugs, result from a police officer claiming to observe a person violate some traffic law. It is not common for police officers to make a traffic stop…
Constructive Possession of Marijuana and Oxycodone Case Thrown Out in Florida
In Florida, in order for the state to prove a drug possession case, it has to prove that the defendant either actually possessed the illegal drugs or constructively possessed the illegal drugs. Actual possession is fairly straightforward. if a person is holding drugs or has them in his/her pocket, that…