Thursday, August 19, 2010

Supreme Court Opinions, August 19, 2010

Stave v. Adams, Search and Seizure: Gant Still Applies; No Good Faith Exception for Police Acting Under Good Faith

Where the arrested person is not within reaching distance of the passenger compartment of the vehicle at the time of the search and the search was not triggered by officer safety concerns or the need to secure evidence of the crime for which the suspect was arrested, the search violates the 4th amendment and the evidence obtained is the fruit of an illegal search. There is no “good faith” exception to the exclusionary rule in cases that involve police acting under a mistaken but good faith belief that their actions were constitutional.

State v. Turner, Double Jeopardy: Violated when court explicitly holds vacated less conviction alive for reinstatement should the more serious conviction for the same criminal conduct fail on appeal.

A court may violate double jeopardy either by reducing to judgment both the greater and the lesser of two convictions for the same offense or by conditionally vacating the lesser conviction while directing, in some form or another, that the conviction nonetheless remains valid. A judgment and sentence must not include any reference to the vacated conviction-nor may an order appended thereto include such a reference; similarly, no reference should be made to the vacated conviction at sentencing.

These and all other opinions from the last 90 days can be found on the courts web page. Here is a link: http://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/index.cfm?fa=opinions.recent