In Commonwealth v. Korey Jordan, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled this week that police officers exceeded their authority in stopping a rental car that had been involved in a shooting two days earlier. (more…)

When police officers make an arrest, they are permitted to search the person being arrested along with his immediate surroundings.  Such a procedure is called a “search incident to arrest.”  In United States v. Robinson, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the police may search for weapons, contraband, or evidence of a crime. ...

As a result of a 2008 ballot initiative, it is no longer a crime to possess less than one ounce of marijuana in Massachusetts.  The change in the law also changed the rules related to a police officer’s right to search your motor vehicle.  The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled today in Commonwealth v....

In an extremely important decision issued last week, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the police must obtain a search warrant before looking at the data contained in the cell phone of someone who has been arrested.  The name of the case is Riley v. California.  It overruled a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court...

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a series of decisions recently regarding the legality of police searches which resulted from drug-detecting dog alerts and led to the arrest of a suspect. (more…)