Roadblock Conviction Overturned

Associated Press ^ | July 3, 2004 | Bill Poovey, AP

[steplock]

''They say they are doing one thing but are using subterfuge to ascertain other types of activity,'' he said


I almost agreed with an attorney! Damn them!

Ok ok ... once in a while there does seem to be one worth NOT put to the "tar & feathers"

[Laura Earl]

ping

[Vigilantcitizen]

When Dennis James Varner pulled his van into a checkpoint with an open beer...

You're a dumba$$.

[eastforker]

Sobriety and or safety checkpoints was declared unconstitutional in Texas many years ago. It is plain and simple illegal search and that practice needs to be stopped in other states as well.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I thought the US Supreme Court said they were OK...
(much as I think they're unconstitutional)

[singlemomofone]

Let me get this right. If I am robbing a hardware store in the middle of the night, and the owner comes in because he needs some accounting bookwork for something he's working on at home...and he finds me robbing his store, it's okay...I can't get in trouble. Because his reason for coming into the store was to get accounting bookwork...and not to see if anyone was robbing his store?

I don't get this. Committing a crime is committing a crime. Law Enforcement is not like playing pool where you have to call the ball & pocket before shooting or it doesn't count.

[Glenn]

Jerry Summers of Chattanooga

This guy is a legend of a lawyer, in those parts. The guy must have been well healed to hire him.

[eastforker]

Not sure but this may have something to do with the state of Texas' constitution. Remember, we were once an idependant republic .

[eastforker]

Yes, law enforcement does have to call ball and pocket and show probable cause. A police state is just that, where the police can do anything it pleases, where did you study the constitution?

[Old Professer]

Not the same thing at all; detention is a specific act allowable only to serve the common good; planned roadblocks for fishing purposes are very narrowly allowed by an errant court (IMO).

[KC_for_Freedom]

Sobriety and or safety checkpoints was declared unconstitutional in Texas many years ago. It is plain and simple illegal search and that practice needs to be stopped in other states as well.

Another one for Texas, YeeeHaaa

[tsomer]

...smelling like alcohol and having slurred speech

In other words sh!t-faced. High. Stoned. Drunk enough to kill somebody.

And I just love the way these yahoos jump to his defense. The cost of the lawyers needed to save his license would have paid a chauffeur to haul his soggy ass around until he had paid his debt.

[Double Tap]

WOW, you totally missed the boat with that one. Talk about apples and watermelons. Yes, an owner of property can be at his property whenever he so wishes. The police don't have that right. Get it?

[eastforker]

No one is jumping to his defense for him being drunk and driving, they were jumping to prove that the police action was illegal. In a free society laws will be broken at times by bad judgment of its citizens. That does not give LE the right to break the laws of protection given to us by the constitution,ie,unreasonable search and seizure.

[SC Swamp Fox]

...and he finds me robbing his store, it's okay...I can't get in trouble

In order to make your scenario analogous your hardware store owner would have to stop everyone leaving his store and pat them down to see if they were shoplifting.

Some of the "receipt checks" at our local Walmart approach this. There have been several threads on FR about people who choose not to stand in yet another line to have the contents of their bag verified.

[E Rocc]

Sobriety and or safety checkpoints was declared unconstitutional in Texas many years ago. It is plain and simple illegal search and that practice needs to be stopped in other states as well.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court inexplicably ruled them to be okay, so for the time being they must be fought locally.

One thing to note is that they depend on suprise. If every time they get set up, every bar in the area is informed of their existence and notifies their patrons, they will soon become highly ineffective. In an era of ubiquitous cell phones, this becomes an almost trivial exercise.

-Eric

[E Rocc]

Jerry Summers of Chattanooga

This guy is a legend of a lawyer, in those parts. The guy must have been well healed to hire him.

Lawyers get to be legends by taking on high profile cases like this that get a lot of attention. Summers likely charged the guy a token fee in exchange for exclusive contact with the media regarding the case.

-Eric

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I don't get this. Committing a crime is committing a crime. Law Enforcement is not like playing pool where you have to call the ball & pocket before shooting or it doesn't count.

You know, you're right.

Cops should be able to stop you and search your car without probable cause or a warrant any time they feel like it.

And they should be able to come into your house and search it without probable cause or a warrant any time they feel like it.

Only people who have something to hide would object.

We don't need no steenking Constitution.

[Libertina]

I have that same confusion...