by Marc Neff
Supreme Court of the United States Holds Using Cellular Telephones to Arrange Misdemeanor Drug Purchases Does Not Constitute Facilitation
A case decided in the Supreme Court of the United States this past summer has held the use of cellular telephones between buyer and seller, to make misdemeanor drug purchases, does not constitute facilitating under United States statue; facilitation would otherwise constitute a felony. Federal Investigators suspected a man of trafficking and/or dealing drugs, and subsequently obtained a...
by Marc Neff
U.S. Supreme Court Rules Search of a Vehicle Following an Arrest Must be Reasonably Necessary and Related to the Offense
The Supreme Court of the United States recently overruled a long established precedent, found in New York v. Belton, which allowed police to search the passenger compartment of a vehicle and any containers therein as a contemporaneous incident of a recent occupant’s lawful arrest. In the case of Arizona v. Gant, Gant was stopped for a minor traffic violation. It was discovered by the officer...
by Marc Neff
New Jersey Supreme Court Will No-Longer Require Exigent Circumstances for Police to Obtain a Telephonic Search Warrant, Defining Exigent Circumstances in the Process
The New Jersey Supreme Court by a 4-3 majority extinguished the requirement of exigent circumstances for police officers to obtain a search warrant via telephone or other electronic means. These telephonic warrants will now be viewed under the same light as warrants obtained in-person, with their validity no longer being predicated on a finding of exigency for the search. The Court felt that...
by Marc Neff
UNLIKE ROUTINE BORDER INSPECTION, REASONABLE SUSPICION REQUIRED TO SEARCH A PASSENGER’S CABIN ABOARD CRUISE SHIP
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects citizens against unreasonable searches and seizures by the government. Depending on the circumstances of the search and seizure, the government must show they had reason to search based on a finding of either probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Conducting a search of a person’s home generally requires probable cause; in...
by Marc Neff
Harsher Penalties for Manufacturing a Controlled Substance than Simply Possessing the Same Quantity, Upheld By Pennsylvania Superior Court
Lancaster County Police were responding to a noise complaint when they found the defendant, Shawn Van Aulen, outside of his apartment with a bag of marijuana in his hand. The officers conducted a search of the defendant, finding a glass smoking device and a marijuana grinding device as well. Following the search, the officers requested, and were granted, permission to enter the apartment for...
by Marc Neff
New Jersey Man Sentenced to Six-Years in Federal Prison for Role in Heroin Ring
A Pennsauken, New Jersey resident was sentenced earlier this week for his role in a Philadelphia area heroin ring in 2005 and 2006. The heroin sold by Castellar and his associates was laced with a powerful painkiller, fentanyl, which caused over 100 deaths in the Philadelphia region due to overdose. The operation was run out of a rented house in Pennsauken. Castellar admitted to selling the...
by Marc Neff
Pennsylvania Superior Court Upholds Mandatory Minimum Sentence for Man Convicted on Multiple Counts of Drug Trafficking
A man convicted, after pleading guilty to six-counts of possessing a controlled substance with intent to deliver (“PWID”) and criminal conspiracy, appealed his sentence to the Pennsylvania Superior Court on the basis he was not advised that his convictions were subject to Pennsylvania mandatory minimum statutes. The appellant, Michael Rush, was sentenced to concurrent terms of seven to...
by Marc Neff
New Jersey Governor Amends State’s Comprehensive Drug Reform Act to Allow Discretion for Suspension of Driving Privileges
New Jersey’s Comprehensive Drug Reform Act of 1987 stated in part that based on criminal history, the extent of the offense, and other criteria, a person could be sentenced to a term of probation if found guilty or if he/she plead guilty to a drug offense. Under the original legislation, such a sentence would have required the judge to suspend the defendant’s driving privileges for a period...
by Marc Neff
Pennsylvania Superior Court Upholds Conviction where Evidence of Trafficking Outweighs Expert Testimony of Personal Use
Philadelphia police officers arrested a man suspected of trafficking drugs, after observing him twice engage in hand-to-hand transactions with individuals who approached the suspect. The suspected dealer, Lawrence Lee, was observed accepting money from individuals, walking across the street to a vacant lot, and then returning with small objects in his hand which he would give to the buyer....
by Marc Neff