Israel Ornelas was arrested in 2013 by federal law enforcement after DEA agents observed Ornelas's involvement in the purchase of methamphetamine. At the time, Ornelas and four co-defendants had already been indicted for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and 846. After his arrest, Ornelas …

The narrow question before the Court in this case was whether citizens enjoy a First Amendment right to photograph police absent any criticism or challenge to police conduct. In addressing that question, the Court wrote:

“In two incidents a year apart, Philadelphia police officers possibly violated the Fourth Amendment when …

Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia currently have laws legalizing marijuana in some form; and that number will soon grow to 29, after three more states recently passed measures permitting the use of medical marijuana. Seven of those states and the District of Columbia have adopted more expansive laws …

This is an interesting decision that exposes some of the realities of the “voluntariness” of written consents to search that are given in today’s world of massive and intimidating SWAT team raids. In this case, District Judge Stamp affirmed a magistrate judge’s finding that a written consent to search the …

In 2014, a Texas jury convicted James Holley of three crimes: conspiracy to commit a drug trafficking crime, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. After he was sentenced to 185 months in prison, he appealed, arguing …

This is another in a long list of sentencing gems from Judge Weinstein. Here, Judge Weinstein imposed a sentence of “time served” on a mother of three children who pled guilty to “the serious offense of conspiracy to import heroin” after concluding that “the negative impact of an incareratory sentence …