Tag: fourth amendment

Kansas v. Glover: U.S. Supreme Court Decides Kansas Case About Traffic Stops

Kansas v. Glover, 140 S.Ct. 1183 (2020). Issue:  When an officer learns the registered owner of a vehicle has a revoked driver’s license and initiates a traffic stop, is the inference that the registered owner is also the …

Police Officers Exceed Scope of Welfare Check

State v. Ellis, No. 120,046 (Kan. Ct. App. Nov. 15, 2019) Issue: Did a police officer exceed the scope of a permissible welfare check when he detained the person for whom the welfare check was called after he …

Searching for the Seriously Injured

Kansas v. Fisher, No. 120,031 (Kan. Ct. App. Nov. 8, 2019) Issue: The emergency aid exception to the Fourth Amendment’s bar on warrantless searches requires an objectively reasonable belief that someone injured is inside. Can officers comply with …

Evidence Found After Discovery of Outstanding Warrant During Welfare Stop is Inadmissible

State v. Manwarren, No. 119,520 (Kan. Ct. App. Apr. 12, 2019). Issue: Unconstitutionally-obtained evidence should be suppressed unless the connection between the evidence and the constitutional violation is too attenuated. Law enforcement officers encountered Richard Manwarren during a …

Publicly-Parked Car Not Seized After Arrest

State v. Parker, No. 112,959 (Kan. Dec. 7, 2018) Issue: Parker was arrested outside his locked car. His car sat in a public parking lot until a drug dog arrived to sniff the vehicle. Was his car unlawfully “seized” by the officers during this time?   …

Officers Cannot Search Containers of Already-Identified Drivers Involved in Accident Without a Warrant

State v. Evans, No. 119,458 (Kan. Nov. 21, 2018) Issue: The “community caretaking” exception to the warrant requirement allows officers to conduct limited warrantless searches. Evans, who had already identified herself to officers, was taken from the scene of a car …

Arrests on Outstanding Warrants Don’t Justify Searches of Bags Outside the Owner’s Control

State v. Ritchey, No. 118,905, (Kan. Ct. App. Nov. 2, 2018) Issue: Law enforcement may conduct a warrantless, though limited, “search incident to arrest” under the Fourth Amendment. Officers arrested Ritchey pursuant to an outstanding warrant. Could they …

Drivers May Have Apparent Authority to Consent to Search of Passenger’s Bag

State v. Bogges, No. 111,361 (Kan. Aug. 24, 2018) Issue: If a driver gives permission to search his car, a law enforcement officer can search bags in the car so long as it’s reasonable to believe the driver had authority …