Posted on 03/23/2014 6:34:06 PM PDT by Altariel
We suspect you are cooking meth, Citizen. What, no meth? Well, we’re going to seize your laptop, your firearms and your cash.
The cash was almost certainly acquired from a drug deal, the laptop undoubtedly has illegal content and the firearms, well, no citizen needs those when the Agents of the State are armed!
Cart before the horse? This invites fishing expeditions and abuse and is devoid f common sense. Another judge exercising bad judgment. Seems to be the norm lately...
Meth is a plague but I’m not willing to sacrifice the 4th amendment to prosecute its making.
“That’ll.get over turned....
Don’t count on it. Scalia and the other court conservatives rarely see a police tactic they don’t approve of.”
Oh this is too easy then.....Call the police as a CI and say that you know (Insert name of judge)’s son is about to cook up some Meth.
You have a right to face your accuser. So who is the CI? Was it data mining purchases? Or an actual person?
Actually it will be a Petition to SCOTUS.
Appeals from a state’s highest court go directly over to SCOTUS.
If they take a hard look at this I do think it is a good chance to revisit the Independent Source Doctrine.
The ruling was based on shaky SCOTUS precedent, and the court completely ignored the Texas law and Constitution which actually grant more protections than the 4th Amendment alone.
I’m a Texas defense attorney and former prosecutor.
This ruling cannot be allowed to stand. The opportunity for abuses by cops was bad enough before this ruling.
Lots of people are going to be the victims of illegal fishing expeditions in the form of raids.
God help us.
Thanks, Clump
Good point. The feds can now come in for suspicion of an action, seize and search. If they find anything illegal, now they can get a retroactive search warrant. If they find nothing illegal, suspicious amounts of cash can still be seized and kept. Civil forfeiture, I think.
Either way, they can take your property and you have legal recourse.
The scary thought is that they can even seize your assets and the court has said that holding all your money prior to a trial so you can’t hire a good attorney isn’t a violation of your rights. You can get a cheap and inexperienced public attorney just like everyone else.
This is not good. How is this happening in Texas? Is it the libs?
Judge Elsa Alcala, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Place 8 (R)
http://www.texastribune.org/directory/elsa-alcala/
Full Name: Elsa Alcala
Education: B.A. Texas A&I University of Kingsville, 1986; J.D. University of Texas at Austin 1989
Spouse: Dan Spjut
Financial Statements
Year:
Election Info
2012 General Election
Won with 78.07% of vote
2012 Republican Party Primary Election
Won with 100.00% of vote
Political Profile
Current Office: Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
Place: 8
Party: Republican Party
Term Expiration: 2018
Term Length: 6 years
Salary: $150,000 per year
Contact Info
Website: judgeelsaalcala.com
Facebook: Fan Page
Republican judge.
I don’t know whether this judge claims to be a conservative, but I know she is a registered Republican.
Isn't it great how Tyrannical Democrat judges & Tyrannical Republican judges complement each other in imposing Tyranny?
If a Democrat wants to ignore the Constitution in one place, a Republican will be happy to ignore it somewhere else. When it comes to shredding the Constitution in the name of expediency, there's often not a dime's worth of difference between the two.
Kinda gives me a warm feeling...</sarc>
There are many of us in Texas who know this state isn’t as “red” as people think.
Police here in Texas are just as thuggish and they are anywhere else. They make up “facts” given to them by made up confidential informants. The word “confidential” means they don’t have to identify the person. In other words, you don’t get to confront your accuser. Cops are out of control all over this country.
I wonder how much cash and how many rounds of ammo a person would need to have for a cop to consider it suspicious.
Thanks, I had forgotten that one. No majority opinion, and Alito's plurality was very fact-intensive, but the concurrence by Scalia and Thomas is downright scary. The four liberals got it right for a change.
Police here in Texas are just as thuggish and they are anywhere else.
Since when has Republican been synonymous with libertarian?
Plenty of conservatives on this forum love law and order above liberty.
"Red" states are traditionally more pro-prosecution in criminal cases than "blue" states.
texas better get its sh1t together or else the term “hangin’ judge” is gonna take on a whole new meaning.
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