Category: Search and Seizure

Court upholds vehicle search after felony arrest for threatening behavior

Court rules on “particularity” of rectory search warrant.

Cuervo v. Sorenson, 2024 WL 3997268 (10th Cir. 2024) Investigators in Mesa County, Colorado, suspected Patricia Cuervo was concealing a stolen Sno-Cat tracked vehicle (measuring 8 feet wide, 7.5 feet tall, and over 16 feet long) in her garage. They rang her doorbell,...

Training and field performance records were the key to proving Raptor’s reliability.

Beware training that merely tells you what you want to hear

When an officer objectively and reasonably relies on a search warrant, the evidence will be admitted despite the warrant’s failings

Eyewitness identification must have at least basic signs of reliability

The court held the officers’ interpretation was objectively reasonable and did not violate the Fourth Amendment

The critical question on appeal was whether the garage was actually part of the residence’s curtilage

The court must consider “whether conducting the sniff prolongs—i.e., adds time to—the stop”

His express refusal of consent as a physically present resident rendered the officers’ entry unlawful