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Stranger Than Dictum: Why Arizona V. Gant Compels The Conclusion That Suspicionless Buie Searches Incident To Lawful Arrests Are Unconstitutional, Colin Miller
Colin Miller
In its 1990 opinion in Maryland v. Buie, the Supreme Court held that as an incident to a lawful (home) arrest, officers can “as a precautionary matter and without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, look in closets and other spaces immediately adjoining the place of arrest from which an attack could be immediately launched.” While this holding was actually dictum, thereafter courts categorically concluded that Buie authorizes suspicionless searches of sufficiently large spaces not only in arrest rooms, but also in rooms immediately abutting arrest rooms and connected to arrest rooms by hallways. Buie was one of three Supreme Court …
Dismissed With Prejudice: Why Application Of The Anti-Jury Impeachment Rule To Allegations Of Racial, Religious, Or Other Bias Violates The Right To Present A Defense, Colin Miller
Colin Miller
It is well established that the presence of a biased juror is a structural defect not subject to a harmless error analysis; however, courts repeatedly have precluded criminal defendants from proving such bias by applying Rule of Evidence 606(b) to prevent jurors from impeaching their verdicts through allegations of racial, religious, or other prejudice by jurors. Court also routinely have held that application of the Rule in such cases does not violate the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury based upon the Supreme Court’s conclusion in Tanner v. United States that the Rule did not violate the right to …