cardigrl (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} cardigrl) wrote,@ 2009-09-26 08:50:00 |
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For the Brits and law geeks amongst us...
Or, what it means sometimes when criminal lawyers say location, location, location.
I've been hearing on the news podcasts a fair amount of chatter about people in Britain carrying knives and how inappropriate the authorities find that fact. Yesterday, I was also researching for a brief on a vehicle search and ran across this court opinion from a few years ago, which I offer for your amusement:
from U.S. v. In the Woods, 2005 SD 3
[¶18] The fact that the defendant had something in his hand and put it in his pocket is not evidence of any threat. In fact, it is evidence to the contrary. If the defendant had some dangerous weapon and intended to use it, he would not have put it in his pocket. It is also clear that he had the legal right to carry a knife in his pocket or in his hand. There is no evidence that would come within Section 3-4-98 of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law and Order Code (government exhibit 2). There was no evidence that at the time he had the knife in the street that he had any intent to unlawfully assault someone. In fact, the evidence at best would be that he had no such intent. Whatever he had in his hand, he had placed in his pocket. The court takes judicial notice of certain well-known facts. Many thousands of people in South Dakota routinely carry knives in their pockets. Every hunter of deer, antelope, pheasants, grouse, rabbits, and other wild game carries a knife. Every person going fishing carries a knife. It is frankly outrageous that a citizen in South Dakota walking down the street with a knife in his pocket can be stopped, required to raise his hands on his head, be handcuffed, searched, and then hauled away to the police station. This is not some activity that is taking place in a metropolitan area. This is rural South Dakota. Even assuming the search of defendant’s person was a legal search, finding the knife provided no probable cause whatsoever to arrest the defendant. Finding a small knife in the pocket of a South Dakotan is about as indicative of criminal activity as someone wearing a seed corn cap.
ETA: FWIW, I routinely carry a Leatherman in my briefcase. I shudder now to think what might have happened, but shortly after September 11, 2001, I flew to NYC (with a change a plane and 2 trips through security) with nobody noticing that I had forgotten to remove it before the trip.
Or, what it means sometimes when criminal lawyers say location, location, location.
I've been hearing on the news podcasts a fair amount of chatter about people in Britain carrying knives and how inappropriate the authorities find that fact. Yesterday, I was also researching for a brief on a vehicle search and ran across this court opinion from a few years ago, which I offer for your amusement:
from U.S. v. In the Woods, 2005 SD 3
[¶18] The fact that the defendant had something in his hand and put it in his pocket is not evidence of any threat. In fact, it is evidence to the contrary. If the defendant had some dangerous weapon and intended to use it, he would not have put it in his pocket. It is also clear that he had the legal right to carry a knife in his pocket or in his hand. There is no evidence that would come within Section 3-4-98 of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe Law and Order Code (government exhibit 2). There was no evidence that at the time he had the knife in the street that he had any intent to unlawfully assault someone. In fact, the evidence at best would be that he had no such intent. Whatever he had in his hand, he had placed in his pocket. The court takes judicial notice of certain well-known facts. Many thousands of people in South Dakota routinely carry knives in their pockets. Every hunter of deer, antelope, pheasants, grouse, rabbits, and other wild game carries a knife. Every person going fishing carries a knife. It is frankly outrageous that a citizen in South Dakota walking down the street with a knife in his pocket can be stopped, required to raise his hands on his head, be handcuffed, searched, and then hauled away to the police station. This is not some activity that is taking place in a metropolitan area. This is rural South Dakota. Even assuming the search of defendant’s person was a legal search, finding the knife provided no probable cause whatsoever to arrest the defendant. Finding a small knife in the pocket of a South Dakotan is about as indicative of criminal activity as someone wearing a seed corn cap.
ETA: FWIW, I routinely carry a Leatherman in my briefcase. I shudder now to think what might have happened, but shortly after September 11, 2001, I flew to NYC (with a change a plane and 2 trips through security) with nobody noticing that I had forgotten to remove it before the trip.