05-04-01

A bungling crook in Rome, Italy was arrested after he took a shop dummy hostage. The gun-wielding robber threatened to shoot the life-like mannequin if the cops made any attempt to capture him. A police spokesman said "He was either blind as a bat, dumb or both."

Two characters in the United Kingdom held up a post office. When they went outside they found their getaway car had been stolen. One of them had left the keys inside. They flagged down a passing car with the intention of using it as a getaway. Unfortunately for them, it was a police car.

MAN ROBS HIMSELF

An Illinois man kidnapped a motorist and forced him to drive to two different automated teller machines. The kidnapper then proceeded to withdraw money from his own bank accounts.

MAN ROBS STORE NEXT TO POLICE STATION

A 19 year-old Northfield Village, Ohio man robbed a Dairy Mart convenience store by threatening the clerk with an 8-inch butcher knife. Problem is, the clerk knew his identity, since he was employed at the Subway right next door.

To make matters worse, the police station is directly across the street from the Dairy Mart. Police arrived in twelve seconds and made the arrest.

"I think this one should go on a TV show called America's Dumbest Criminals," said the Northfield Village Chief.

In October 2000, the Central East Texas Narcotics Task Force in Huntsville, Texas, interviewed a documented methamphetamine cook from East Texas. The subject advised that a group of clandestine methamphetamine cooks had started making a bomb using rat traps, 12-gauge shotgun shells, and a gallon can of flammable solvent.

According to the subject, a hole is drilled into the end of the rat trap and a shotgun shell is inserted into the hole. The wire trap is bent so that it will strike the primer on the shell. This will fire the shell into the gallon can, causing the flammable liquid to explode. The bomb is rigged with a trip wire to set off the reaction. Although this information originated from the East Texas area, officers should be advised that this type of trap could be used in any area. Always be cautious when dismantling clandestine labs.

SEARCH AND SEIZURE:POLICE MAY PREVENT OCCUPANT FROM ENTERING HIS RESIDENCE UNTIL SEARCH WARRANT IS OBTAINED.

Two officers accompanied a woman to the trailer where she lived with her husband so that she could remover her belongings. They waited outside while the woman entered the trailer and collected her things.

When the woman came out, she told the officers that her husband “had dope in there,” and that she had seen him “slide some dope underneath the couch.” The officers knocked on the door and asked the defendant for permission to search the trailer, but he refused.

One of the officers went with the woman to obtain a search warrant. The other officer told the defendant, who was outside the trailer on the porch, that he could not reenter his residence unless a police officer accompanied him.

The defendant did reenter two or three times, and each time the officer also entered to watch the man. Eventually the other officer returned with a warrant, which was executed. Officers found marijuana and paraphernalia under the sofa , and they arrested the defendant.

The defendant moved to suppress contraband, claiming that it was the produce of an unlawful seizure. He contended that it was unlawful to prevent him from entering his residence unaccompanied, and that, if he had been allowed to enter, he would have destroyed the marijuana.

Holding: The “central equipment” of the Fourth Amendment is reasonableness. Sometimes reasonableness required a warrant, but there are exceptions to the warrant requirement.”

“When faced with special law enforcement needs, diminished expectations of privacy, minimal intrusions, or the like, the Court has found that certain general, or individual circumstances may render a warrantless search or seizure reasonable.”

The warrantless seizure in this case was not unreasonable. “Exigent circumstances” were present, and the restraint used was tailored to meet the needs at hand. The seizure of the defendant was limited in time and scope, and avoided significant intrusion into the home itself.

The police had probable cause to believe that the trailer contained contraband, which was evidence of a crime. They had spoken with the defendant’s wife and had some opportunity to assess her reliability. She had observed her husband’s behavior firsthand.

Because the defendant might have realized his wife knew about the drugs, and since he knew that she had asked the police to accompany her to collect her belongings, the police reasonably could have feared that he might have tried to destroy the drugs.

The officers did not search the trailer or arrest the defendant before they obtained a warrant. Preventing him from reentering his residence unaccompanied was significantly less intrusive than those alternatives.

Moreover, the length of the detention was limited. The defendant was kept out of his home for only two hours, the period necessary to obtain the warrant.

Because the police had probable cause to believe contraband would be found in the trailer, and that the defendant was likely to destroy the drugs if permitted to reenter the trailer, and because the measures taken to preserve the evidence were limited and relatively unintrusive, it was reasonable to keep the defendant out of his residence while a search warrant was obtained.

Comment: At one point in the majority’s opinion, the court notes, “We have found no case in which this Court has held unlawful a temporary seizure that was supported by probable cause and was designed to prevent the loss of evidence while the police diligently obtained a warrant in a reasonable period of time. The Court approves many warrantless searches and seizures, but it continues to prefer that a warrant be obtained. To this end, courts generally approve of measures taken to maintain the status quo while a warrant is sought On the one hand, the intrusion on the defendant’s liberty was relatively slight, both in terms of what keeping the defendant out of his trailer during this process seems to be a reasonable way to accommodate the government’s need without unduly intruding on the defendant’s liberty. Illinois v McArthur, 2001 WL 137449 (2001).

Between 1985 and 1993 the number of Federal criminal appeals filed increased from 4,989 to 11,862. After 1993 the number filed decreased to 10,251 during 1999.

The criminal appeal rate peaked during 1993 at 23 appeals filed for every 100 convictions. After 1993 the appeal rate decreased to 16 per 100 convictions in 1999.

95% of appeals were filed by the defendant; 5% by the government.

Defendants convicted of violent and weapons offenses filed appeals at the highest rates: 24 per 100 convictions for violent offenders and 29 per 100 for weapons offenders.

67% of appeals were filed by offenders who pleaded guilty to at least one of the offenses charged.

66% of appeals were filed by offenders represented by publicly provided counsel; 33%, privately retained counsel; and 1%, pro se.

44% of offenders who filed an appeal were subject to a mandatory prison sentence; 11% were sentenced below the applicable sentencing range for substantial assistance.

Of the criminal appeals concluded during 1999, 77% were terminated on the merits. District court decisions were at least partially affirmed in 85% of these cases.

For 769 prison inmates, a successful appeal resulted in an average sentence reduction of 51 months. For 86 inmates a successful appeal by the government resulted in a sentence increase of 25 months.

A man was walking along a narrow path, not paying much attention to where he was going. Suddenly, he slipped over the edge of a cliff. As he fell he grabbed a branch growing from the side of the cliff. Realizing that he couldn’t hang on for long, he called for help.

Man: Is anybody up there?

Voice: I’m, here!

Man: Who’s that?

Voice The Lord

Man: Lord, help me!

Voice Do you trust me?

Man: I trust you completely, Lord.

Voice Good ! Let go of the branch.

Man: What???

Voice I said, “Let go of the branch.”

Man (After a long pause ) Is there anyone else up there?

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