...Hatfield v. McDaniel et al Doc. 58 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA NORTHERN DIVISION JERRY BENNETT HATFIELD, III, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) JOHN MCDANIEL, et al., ) ) Defendants. ) CASE NO. 2:11-CV-590-WKW [WO] MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER This case involves the allegedly illegal search and seizure of Plaintiff Jerry Bennett Hatfield’s store and computer. The matter comes before the court on the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment filed by Defendants John McDaniel, Gary Graves, Robert Furlong, and the City of Prattville, Alabama. (Doc. # 25.) The parties have argued their positions extensively: Mr. Hatfield filed a Response (Doc. # 29), to which Defendants responded (Doc. # 35), to which Mr. Hatfield filed a sur-reply, to which Defendants responded (Doc. # 45). For the reasons discussed below, summary judgment is due only on Mr. Hatfield’s Fourteenth Amendment and negligence claims. As to Mr. Hatfield’s Fourth Amendment claims, summary judgment is improper. Dockets.Justia.com I. JURISDICTION AND VENUE Subject matter jurisdiction over this action is exercised pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331 and 28 U.S.C. § 1343. The parties do not contest personal jurisdiction or venue, and there are allegations sufficient to support both. II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Plaintiff Jerry Bennet Hatfield, III, runs a car stereo store in Prattville called Powerhouse Audio. Sometimes Mr. Hatfield accepts trade-ins, which are not always the...
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...United States Constitution’s purpose is to protect the natural rights of all Americans. The first ten amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights, outline those basic principals. The amendment involved in the case of Katz V. United States was the fourth. This amendment protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures without a warrant; however, there are limitations to this rule. For example, any searches inside a home are considered unreasonable unless “an officer is given consent to search, If the search is indecent to a lawful arrest, if there is probable cause to search and exigent circumstances, or if the items are in plain view” (What Does the Fourth Amendment Mean?). When an officer suspects a person is involved in...
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...released that gives emphasis to the Fourth Amendment needs. Also, the definition of probable cause and its principles in which it is assembled will be discussed. There are two kinds of investigation that do not necessitate a warrant which will also be enclosed in this paper as well as concentrating on a small number of enquiry such as What the underlying principle is for consenting to warrantless investigation, and if these rationale are influential, and whether or not all investigation necessitate that likely reason are present or if there are discharged or not. Investigative permit procedure and the Fourth Amendment requests Searching warrant is not only disturbing they have to also be precise and they are not all equivalent. If a person uses a search warrant for instance to get hold of a company’s financial records or even a senior manager who is assumed of deception this course of action is not uncomplicated, nevertheless if a person uses a search warrant to situate an confiscated part of proof such as a bullet, or illegal pills then it is reasonably uncomplicated to do. Moreover, The Fourth Amendment has to be well thought-out and taken critically when acquiring a search warrant and the officer has to be extremely cautious to show consideration for the rights of other individuals to be protected in their homes, people, possessions, and permit adjacent to irrational search and seizure, shall not be dishonoured. “One purpose of the Fourth Amendment is to prevent, and to protect...
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...Week Two: The Fourth Amendment and the Exclusionary Rule Sept 18 - 24 Details Due Points Objectives 2 2.1 Explore the common law background of the Fourth Amendment. 2.2 Analyze the rationale and purpose of the Exclusionary Rule. 2.3 Discuss exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule. 2.4 Examine alternative remedies to the Exclusionary Rule. 2.5 Identify the costs and benefits of the Exclusionary Rule. Readings Read the Week Two Read Me First. Read Ch. 2 & 3 of Criminal Procedure. Read Ch. 6 & 8 of The Search and Seizure Handbook. Read this week’s Electronic Reserve Readings. Participation Participate in class discussions. All week 2 Individual Discussion Questions Respond to weekly discussion questions. DQ 1: Thursday DQ 2: Sunday 3 Individual Exclusionary Rule Evaluation Write a 1,000 - 1,200-word paper in which you analyze the rationale and purpose of the Exclusionary Rule, as well as identify the exceptions to the Exclusionary Rule. In your analysis state examine the costs and benefits of the Exclusionary Rule, as well as alternative remedies to the rule. Be sure to state your position towards the exclusionary rule and provide support your position. Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines. The paper requires the use of 2 academic resources which can include course materials. Monday 10 Learning Team Fourth Amendment Summary Submit the...
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...Workplace Privacy: Privacy Rights in the Workplace Marisol Cortez National University Legal Aspects of Business I Law 304 Jack B. Hamlin, M.S., J.D. October 23, 2011 Abstract Workplace Privacy: Is an employer issued search of employer issued property to their employees a violation of the employees’ Fourth Amendment right of freedom from unreasonable search and seizure? This paper will examine the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to the case of City of Ontario v. Jeff Quon that has provided a significant change of the views on workplace privacy law in this country. The majority of U.S. employees believe that it is their constitutional right to have reasonable workplace privacy. However, most U.S. employees are unaware that their constitutional right to privacy is contingent upon the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment’s rights to freedom from unreasonable search and seizure. This constitutional right is generally applied to state actions and they are at times limited to protecting only federal, state, and municipal employees. Furthermore, this paper will discuss the influences of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence to private sector employment because of the parallel common law standard of “reasonable expectations of privacy” which is the primary piece of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) the federal legislation suggesting employee privacy interest in prohibiting unlawful access and certain disclosures of contents in certain forms of communication...
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...requesting the court to reverse the judgment of California Court of Appeal. RELEVENT CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION: The fourth amendment of the U.S. constitution states that : “The right of people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.” STATEMENT OF THE CASE: 1. On the morning of August 22, 2009, the police charged a petition against David Riley, a college student, who was driving his Lexus near his home’s neighborhood of San Diego. The officer who stopped Riley told the petitioner he stopped him for traffic violation, which eventually led to his arrest on weapons charges. He was driving the car with expired license registration tags, as his driver’s license was suspended, police is required to impound the car. Riley was considered to be involved in the shoot on August 2, considering the current situation and moment so separate charges were also issued for shooting on another vehicle, which intension to attempt murder, and...
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...BOWER, individually, jointly and severally, Defendants. _______________________________________/ Of Counsel: HILL AND ASSOCIATES, LLP DeClercq Druminski & Perlman James D. Hill (P88332) Anthony J. DeClercq Attorney for Defendant Attorney for Plaintiff 161 N. Clark St. 55171 Pacific Ridge Drive Chicago, IL 60601 Macomb, MI 48042 (913) 706-9986 (586) 321-7630 JamesDonaldHill@gmail.com decler16@msu.edu January 12, 2002 DEFENDANTS’ BRIEF IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Authorities........................................................................................................ii Issues Presented...............................................................................................................1 Statement of Facts...........................................................................................................1 Summary of the Argument..............................................................................................3 Standard of Review.............................................................................................3 I. Argument.........................................................................................4 To defeat a government employee’s qualified immunity, the Plaintiff must prove there was a violation of a constitutional right and that the right that was violated was clearly established. It is undisputed...
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...Legal Case Brief 43271590 LSTD302 Professor Tamara Herdener October 25, 2015 Case Citation: Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of County of Burlington, 566 U.S. ___(2012). Parties: Albert W. Florence, Plaintiff/Appellant Board of Chosen Freeholder of County of Burlington, Defendant/Appellee Facts: Albert Florence was arrested for an outdated warrant. Upon his arrest he was taken to the Burlington County Detention Center where he was subject to a strip search. He remained there for six days and then was transferred to the Essex county facility where he was subjected to another strip search and a visual body cavity search. Florence contends that these searches violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment since he was arrested for a minor offense. Procedural History: In 1998, Albert Florence was arrested for fleeing from police officers in Essex County and was charged with obstruction of justice and use of a deadly weapon. He took a plea deal where he pleaded guilty and his charges where reduced to two lesser offenses. He was sentenced to pay a fine in monthly installments but he failed to keep up with the monthly payments. Not only did he fall behind in his monthly payments but he also failed to appear at an enforcement hearing in which caused him to have a warrant issued for his arrest. Florence paid for the outstanding balance but the warrant was never updated and remained in the database. A state trooper stopped Florence in New Jersey and arrested...
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...reported to be at this certain residence was not found on the property. Procedural History: Mendez and his wife filed suit under the Supreme Courts against petitioners in Southern California District, the County of Los Angeles and Deputies Conley and Pederson for violation of three, Four Amendment claims: a warrantless entry claim, a knock-and-announce claim, and an excessive force claim. The defendant augured that the plaintiff’s actions of holding the BB gun, that bear a resemblance to a rifle, falls under a superseding cause. The plaintiff claimed that the defendants broke the duty of care under negligence which includes the elements of Duty, Breach, Causation, and Damaged. Then the plaintiff also claimed that under the Ninth Circuit’s provocation rule, the defendants’ actions may seem reasonable, but indeed are unreasonable since they provoked the violent response that caused the superseding cause from the plaintiff. Issues: Under the Fourth Amendment, is an officer’s otherwise lawful use of force unreasonable when the officer provokes a violent response? Does it depend on the whole circumstances of the issue whether or not it justifies a particular sort of search or seizure? Rules: Fourth Amendment gives the right for people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, should not be violated, and no warrants should be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place...
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...SUMMARY OF A CASE INVOLVING 4TH AMENDMENT RIGHTS At about 6:08am, on October 4, 2009, Trisha Oliver, a resident of Cranston Rhode Island called 911 reporting that her six-year-old son, Marco Nieves, stopped breathing. Emergency authorities took Marco to Hasbro Children's Hospital, where he was found to be in full cardiac arrest. He later died after 11 hours attempt to save his life. At about 6:20am, Sgt. Michael Kite of the Cranston Police Department had arrived at the apartment, where he found Oliver, her boyfriend Michael Patino, and their 14-month-old daughter, Jazlyn Oliver grieving the loss of their loved one. Officer Kite noticed a few odd things about the apartment where Marco suffered his cardiac arrest. Among these things was a cell phone on the kitchen counter, a couple of stripped beds and linens on the floor, a trash can with, dark brown vomit in a toilet, and, crucially, a cell phone on the kitchen counter. Kite picked up the cell phone, and it was at that point—in the just-released opinion of a Rhode Island state court—that police proceeded to mangle a murder case and violate Patino's Fourth Amendment rights by viewing text messages without a warrant. Officer Kite viewed a text message on the phone, which was owned by Trisha Oliver, reading "Wat if I got 2 take him 2 da hospital wat do I say and dos marks on his neck omg." The message was sent from Oliver to Patino, although the sending of the message apparently failed. There were other messages on the phone "with...
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...Criminal Procedure Probable Cause Article Summary Brandy A University of Phoenix Criminal Procedure CJA/353 Professor Joseph Wade April 11, 2012 Criminal Procedure Probable Cause Article Summary The article I choose is Cell phone Tracking Power on Request by Ellen Nakashima from the Washington Post in November of 2007, the reason why I pick this article is because of the way the federal government is violating or has been violating individual Fourth Amendment right by tracking the cell phone of individual that police feel might be suspicious of drug trafficking, criminal suspect, and fugitives with no probable cause and being allowed to do this by some judges. Federal Official are regularly going to judges in order to retrieve cell phone data from cell phone companies on suspected fugitives, drug traffickers, and suspected criminals and in some case the judge has allowed them to without showing the courts any probable causes thinking a crime may be in play or they can find specific evidence to a crime. This proceeding goes on in secretive as order by the government and the information is sealed making it hard to prove injustices. Federal official was granted this data in October 2006 in helping with the capture of a Florida serial killer that linked in four states to six other murders, including the murder of a University of Virginia student at Blue Ridge Parkway, killer kills themselves in shooting with police in Florida. Law enforcement...
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...REPRESENTING THE PEOPLE 2500 Someother Way, Suite 401 Sacramento, California 93721 Telephone: (916) 497-4000 Attorneys for Appellee TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents ..................................................................................................... i Table of Authorities ................................................................................................ ii Issues Presented for Review ................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Case ............................................................................................. 1 Statement of Facts .................................................................................................. 1 Summary of Argument ........................................................................................... 3 Argument ................................................................................................................ 4 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 6 i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES U.S. Const. am. 4. ........................................................................................... 5, 6 FEDERAL CASES Chimel v. California (1969) 395 U.S. 752 .......................................................... 6 STATE CASES People v. Allen (1975) 50 Cal. App. 3d 8965 ...................................................... 6 People v. Summers...
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...Chimel v. California Misty Basford Kaplan University Chimel v. California Case summary: Police officers went to a suspect’s home to serve an arrest warrant. The suspect was not home, the wife allowed them into the home while they waited for the suspect to return. When the suspect returned, they served him with the arrest warrant and requested to search the house. The suspect declined but the police did it anyhow. The court found that police could not search the entire home without a search warrant. They could however, search the immediate area where the suspect could get ahold of a weapon at the time of the arrest. The reason they police could not search the rest of the house was because it went against the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments....
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... 1000 Anystreet Rd. Jacksonville, FL 32202 (904)-555-555 Attorneys for Defendant Bobby Lane QUESTION PRESENTED I. Whether the Court would erode the Fourth Amendment’s intent to protect citizens’ rights to be secure against unlawful arrest by admitting evidence when it was found on Defendant’s person subsequent to a warrantless arrest for which Defendant was wrongly suspected of being a Jewelry Store Burglar based on static details given by an anonymous caller and police observation that something “sparkly” was in Defendant’s van, further Defendant never “voluntarily” consented to the warrantless arrest, and most notably seizure for the arrest in question occurred inside the threshold of Defendant’s home? Table of Contents Page Question Presentedi. Table of authoritiesiii. Statement of the case1 summary of the argument2 Argument3 I. MR. BOBBY LANE’S FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED WHEN he was SIEZED INSIDE THE THRESHHOLD OF HIS HOME WITHOUT WARRANT, ABSENT PROBABLE CAUSE FOR THE JEWELRY BURGLARY, OR A CONCENT EXCEPTION. THEREFORE, THE COURT SHOULD GRANT THE MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE3 A. Defendant Was Inside The Threshold Of...
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...Case Brief CASE: Maryland v. Buie, 494 U.S. 325 (1990) SUMMARY OF THE FACTS: Following an armed robbery, police obtained arrest warrants for both suspects. While executing defendant Buie’s arrest warrant at his home, he came out of the basement. An officer then conducted a search of the basement in case there was anyone else there that posed a danger to the officer’s safety. During this search the officer found the running suit that was worn at the time of the robbery. ISSUE: (1) Is probable cause that a danger exists required in order to conduct a protective sweep of a suspect’s home? (2) Are items found during a protective sweep allowed to be seized? APPLICABLE RULES OF LAW: The Fourth Amendment states that people are protected from...
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