The Court granted certiorari and consolidated three cases presenting identical questions in different factual permutations: Question presented (Birchfield v. North Dakota); (Beylund v. Levi); (Bernard v. Minnesota): Whether, in the absence of a warrant, a State may make it a crime for a person to refuse to take a chemical test to detect the presence of… Read more
C. Warrant unnecessary
State v. Daniel S. Iverson, 2015 WI 101, 11/25/2015, reversing a 1-judge court of appeals decision; case activity (including briefs) Do cigarette butts decompose? Do they “result[]…from community activities”? Those are just two of the burning questions left unanswered (smoldering?) after this blaze of statutory construction. A state trooper pulled Iverson over after seeing a passenger in his car throw a… Read more
United States v. Bodie B. Witzlib, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 15-1115, 8/7/15 The search of the basement of the home Witzlib was living in with his grandmother was valid because the area was shared and not Witzlib’s private space. Nor was the consent affected by the fact that after Witzlib answered the officers’ knock… Read more
United States v. Larry Bentley, 7th Circuit Court of Appeals No. 13-2995, 7/28/15 A drug dog’s alert on Bentley’s car during a traffic stop was sufficient to establish probable cause to search in light of the standard established by Florida v. Harris, 133 S. Ct. 1050 (2013). Police stopped Bentley’s vehicle after observing it cross into another lane… Read more
State v. James Michael Warren, 2014AP792-CR, District 3, 8/4/15 (one-judge decision; ineligible for publication); case activity (including briefs) Under State v. Bohling, 173 Wis. 2d 529, 494 N.W.2d 399 (1993), which was the law at the time of Warren’s arrest, a person must present their reasonable objection and the basis for the objection at the… Read more
State v. Patrick Hogan, 2015 WI 76, 7/10/2015, affirming a court of appeals per curiam decision, 2013AP430-CR, majority opinion by Prosser; concurrence by Ziegler, dissent by Bradley (joined by Abrahamson); case activity (including briefs) Sixteen seconds. It takes longer than that just to find your keys, get into your car, buckle up and start your… Read more
The 4th Amendment has been described by Conservative HQ as “one of the most important arrows in the quiver against bullying big government.” Because the government doesn’t just search and seize paper–it also goes after your cell phones, your Facebook account, your email (even when stored on Google’s server), your tweets, your DNA (by definition… Read more
Review of an unpublished per curiam court of appeals decision; affirmed 2016 WI 10; case activity (including briefs) Issue (composed by On Point) Was a warrantless blood draw of a person suspected of having ingested heroin justified because, at the time of the search, State v. Bohling, 173 Wis. 2d 529, 494 N.W.2d 399 (1993), held… Read more
