Pretextual stops. Let's talk about it. Cops who perform traffic stops are rarely performing traffic stops because they care about traffic safety. They're looking for something anything else. Driving a car on public roads puts you on the outside of the Fourth Amendment. Warrants aren't required. Reasonable suspicion is the low bar that…
Thu, May 13th 2021 9:35am
Tim Cushing
A recent case handled by an Illinois Appeals Court has some interesting things to say about cellphones and searches. It also contains some rather interesting assertions by law enforcement, which apparently didn t feel all that compelled to search a seized phone for more than a year after it was seized. (via FourthAmendment.com)
It s a drug and gun case, with the defendant facing two felony charges. Lamar Meakens was arrested following a traffic stop where contraband was discovered and his phone was seized. Here s how the court sums up that initial interaction in its opinion [PDF]: