Matthew J Federal Criminal Law Blog

According to recent reports, the federal government routinely failed to follow its own standards regulating immigration detention centers across the country, denying detainees sufficient recreation time and adequate access to San Pedro criminal defense attorneys, legal materials and telephones, according to a new report issued by the media.... Read More

The police department in Santa Monica is under fire. According to the ACLU's legal director, Mark Rosenbaum, "Santa Monica is effectively running a deportation program for the homeless".  As a Santa Monica Criminal Defense Attorney I can certainly attest to the fact that more arrests and charges are brought against the homeless in that city.... Read More

Yes.  In the case of New Jersey v. T.L.O. 460 U.S. 325 (1985),  the United States Supreme Court held that the 4th Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures apply to school officials. However, the U.S. Supreme Court did not require the school to have probable cause for the search but rather a lower reasonableness standard. The search of a student by a school official will be justified at its inception where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting tha... Read More

Yes, in the case of Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325 (1990). Alabama local police received an anonymous tip reporting that a person was carrying a brown briefcase filled with cocaine, that he would leave a specific unit of an apartment building and travel in her brown Plymouth station wagon, which had a broken taillight, to a specific motel. Police watched the apartment complex, and saw a brown Plymouth wagon with a broken taillight. They then watched defendant, empty-handed, exit t... Read More