FACTS: Three adult men (ALLEN ET AL, respondents/defendants) and a 16-year-old girl (a Jane Doe who was not a respondent) were tried on charges that they possessed two handguns, a machine gun, and a pound of heroin found in a Chevrolet they were riding in when stopped for speeding on the New York Thruway on March 28, 1973. The handguns were seen protruding from an open handbag on the passenger side near Jane Doe, who admitted that the handbag was hers. The machine gun and the heroin were discovered in the trunk after the police forced it open. (The key to the trunk was nowhere to be found). The car belonged to, and had been borrowed from, the driver's brother. A New York statute states that the presence of a firearm in an automobile is presumptive …show more content…
Defendants filed a post-trial motion challenging the constitutionality of the New York statute as applied in this case. Motion was denied. Convictions were affirmed by the Appellate Division. The New York Court of Appeals also affirmed. Respondents/defendants filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, which issued the writ. The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed, holding that respondents had grounds to challenge the constitutionality of the statute.
ISSUE: Was the New York statute’s possession presumption unconstitutional as applied in this case?
RULING: No. The Court reversed the judgment of the Second Circuit. See dissent below.
RATIONALE: The jury instructions stated that the presumption gave rise to a permissive inference, not a mandatory conclusion, and could be ignored even without affirmative proof from defendants. The respondents’ argument was based on the fact that the guns were in Jane Doe's handbag, however the facts indicated that Jane Doe was not the only person able to exercise control over the guns. The guns were too large to be concealed in her handbag, which was open with one of the guns in plain sight, within easy access of the driver and possibly the other men. Thus the jury could have reasonably rejected the respondents’
Gant was arrested by Arizona police because he was driving a vehicle with a suspended license. While he was being handcuffed, officers searched his vehicle and found a gun and a bag of cocaine. During the trial, Gant petitioned to suppress the gun and cocaine because the police didn’t serve a warrant to search his vehicle, in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Prior to the Supreme Courts opinion on this case, Arizona vs. Gant, it was standard practice for police to conduct a search incident to arrest of the passenger compartment of a vehicle. The justifications for the search incident to arrest are to allow police to secure any weapons that the arrestee might seek to use to resist arrest or escape and preserve evidence. This case is a decision holding that the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires law enforcement officers to a continuing threat to their safety posed by an arrestee, in order to justify a warrantless vehicular search conducted after the vehicle's recent occupants have been arrested and secured. ...
kidnapping and murder of two drug dealers (December 28, 1972, and January 2, 1973), and the
The Casey Anthony case was one that captured the heart of thousands and made it to the headline of national TV talk shows, newspapers, radio stations and social media networks for months. The root of the case was due to a clash between the parental responsibilities, the expectations that went with being a parent, and the life that Casey Anthony wanted to have. The case was in respect to the discovering the cause of Casey’s two-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony’s, death; however the emphasis was placed on Casey and her futile lies, which resulted in a public outcry. The purpose of this essay is to delve into the public atmosphere and inquire about why the media and social media collectively attacked the case by uncovering the content of the case, the charges that were laid, and later dismissed, the “performers” of the trial and the publics reaction. It will further discuss how it defies universal ideologies and how the media represents this. The discussion of the complexities of the case and its connotations will incorporate Stuart Hall’s Representation and the Media, Robert Hariman’s Performing the Laws, What is Ideology by Terry Eagleton, The Body of the Condemned by Michael Foucault, and a number of news articles, which will reveal disparate ideas of representation in the media, and the role of the performers of the law and their effect on the understanding of the case.
Hernandez v. New York, 500 U.S. 352; 111 S. Ct. 1859, 114 L.Ed.2d 395 (1991).
Plaintiff requested a jury trial to determine if the original court’s ruling should be overturned based upon his belief that the court did not uphold his right to be granted a transfer to another unit under the “reasonable accommodations” portion of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
In this case, Dwayne Giles was tried in state court for the murder of his ex-girlfriend. Dwayne Giles shot his ex-girlfriend, Brenda Avie, outside the garage of his grandmother’s house. There were not witnesses, but Giles’ niece heard what had occurred from inside the house. She heard Giles and Avie arguing. Avie then yelled “Granny” several times and a series of gunshots sounded. Giles’ niece and grandmother ran outside and saw Giles standing near Avie with a gun in his hand. Avie, who had not been carrying a weapon, had been shot six times. Giles fled the scene after the shooting. Police arrested him about two weeks later.
The Lilah R. vs. Anthony Smith case has several consequences for administration. First, it tells students that they are powerless in sexual harassment cases when facing school officials. The courts ruled that Lilah did not have enough evidence to support her claims of sexual harassment. However, the district found Mr. Smith guilty for “engaging in inappropriate and unprofessional behavior contrary to District policy.” Even though the district found him guilty, he was not removed from his position at the school. Lastly, the outcome in this case shows that the school supports sexual harassment. Again, Mr. Smith was allowed to keep his job even though he was found guilty by the district. This was also contradictory to the districts and state’s
The respondent appealed the Appellate Division verdict to the New Jersey Supreme Court. The New Jersey Supreme court overturned the Appellate Division decision and ordered the evidence discovered in the respondents pursue to be suppressed because the respondents Fourth Amendment rights had been violated by an unwarranted search and seizure by the Assistant Vice
Reasoning: The court states that the exclusion of evidence is allowed, only if the probative value
According to authorities, the investigation took aim at people who were trying to traffic heroin via Interstate 95 and Interstate 85. It also aimed to cut down on violent crimes associated with drug trafficking. The defendants, who range in age from 27 to 53, are facing multiple drug-related charges, including possession of heroin with the intent to distribute, possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, possession of marijuana possession with the intent to distribute
United States. Department of Justice. CAROLYN WARREN, ET AL., APPELLANTS, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ET AL., APPELLEES; WILFRED NICHOL, APPELLANT, v. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT, ET AL., APPELLEES. By Joseph M. Hannon. Guns Alert. Web. 14 July 2011.
In the United States of America, there is much debate about the effectiveness and practicality of concealed firearms. Many citizens today are trying to support their claim with old, outdated evidence and targeted research to attempt to prove a point, but can not escape the truth. Although Concealed firearms may sound appealing to reduce crime rates and stop violence, new evidence suggests otherwise. Recently there has been trends of certain lunatics who own guns that decide to shoot innocent people, justifying the need for more strict gun control laws. The purpose of this paper is to educate and inform about the immensely important topic of concealed firearms, with focus on what effect it has on society and crime rates. We will go over modern
Abortion is a topic that many don’t want to discuss. It’s a very personal decision that many women have to make each day, but in certain states, getting an abortion was becoming an even more difficult process. Not only did women have to decide to get an abortion that alone is a difficult choice, they now had to wait 24 hours, minors had to get consent, and/or inform the father of the child. But after all of this process, what if a woman couldn’t receive all of this? Would she be denied her right to get an abortion? The Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood of PA v. Casey, wasn’t known for what it did, but mainly for what it did not do, which was not overruling Roe v. Wade, but reaffirming a woman’s right to an abortion; it questioned a state’s right to impose or place an “undue burden” on women.
rights and public health problems were on the rise with abortion laws front and center (“Roe v
“On October 21, 2012 Sergeant William Butler and Officer Samantha Brown stopped a car in the 2000 block of East Street for failure to yield the right of way to a pedestrian. In the course of the car stop it was determined the driver was Jeffery Cox. According to the DMV registration information, Mr. Cox owned the car. Sitting in the car front passenger seat was Amanda Watson. When the officers checked on any outstanding warrants on the occupants of the vehicle, they received a positive response on Ms. Watson. Police arrested her based on an outstanding arrest warrant for misdemeanor shoplifting. When Ms. Watson was ordered out of the vehicle to be handcuffed Sgt. Butler noticed a plastic bag of a substance he suspected to be crack cocaine lying on the front seat where Watson had been sitting. Incident to the arrest on the warrant, Sgt. Brown searched Ms. Watson and found $650 in small denomination bills but no devices with which to ingest crack cocaine.”