These legal updates are prepared as an ongoing service to the law enforcement community by retired Deputy District Attorney Robert Phillips, formerly of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office. 

   NOVEMBER 5, 2009

• Public Place; A Residential Front Yard
• Search Warrants; Mistakes in the Warrant
• Computers; Probable Cause for Seizure and Search
• Custody; Interrogations in the Home
• Warrantless Arrests in the Home During Execution of a Search Warrant
• P.C. §273(a); Child Endangerment
• P.C. §246; Shooting at an Occupied Dwelling From the Inside
• Anonymous Tips and Reasonable Suspicion to Detain
• Proving the Source of the Information in a Radio Call
• Unlawful Detentions and Subsequent Criminal Acts
• Protective Sweeps of a Residence

   OCTOBER 29, 2009

• Vehicle Burglary
• P.C. §626.10(a); Knives on School Campuses
• Patdowns and Reasonable Suspicion
• Container Searches and Expectation of Privacy
• Consent Searches and Coercion
• Consent Searches by a Cotenant
• The Community Caretaking Function and Traffic Stops

   SEPTEMBER 20, 2009

• Search Warrants for Computer Information
• Miranda; Internal Investigations of Public Employees
• Probationary Fourth Waiver Searches
• Miranda; Tape Recording and Interrogation, Invocations, Rescue Doctrine, Fruit of the Poisonous Tree, Offers of Leniency, Deceptions During an Interrogation

   AUGUST 13, 2009

• Parole Searches and Harassment
• Pandering, per P.C. § 266i(a)(2)
• Standing, as it Applies to One’s Residence
• Standing, as it Applies to a Large Business
• Search Warrants; Overbreadth, Incorporation, Copies at the Scene, Good Faith, and Consent Obtained as the Product of an Unlawful Search Warrant
• Attempting to Manufacture Dope

   JUNE 11, 2009

• Search Warrants; Document Retentions and Loss of the Affidavit
• Detentions, Patdowns, Arrests and the Impounding of Vehicles
• Miranda; The Non-Custodial Interrogation
• Grand Theft from the Person; Per PC §487(c)
• Aggravated Mayhem, per PC §205

   JUNE 1, 2009

• Sixth Amendment; After-Arraignment Contacts with Defendants
• Interrogations; Use of a Ruse
• Miranda; Minimizing the Importance of the Admonishment
• Interrogation Tactics and Voluntariness

   MAY 8, 2009

• Traffic Stops; Detention of the Passengers
• Searches of Vehicles Incident to Arrest
• Vehicle Code Equipment Violations; Circumstantial Evidence of a Violation
• Traffic Stops; Prolonged Detentions
• Traffic Stops; Temporary Operating Permits, Part I
• Traffic Stops; Temporary Operating Permits, Part II

   APRIL 1, 2009

• Consent; Voluntariness in the Face of an Assertion of Authority
• Terminating a Voluntary Interview as Evidence of Guilt
• Assertion of the Right to Silence Before Custody
• Barricaded Suspects and the Need for Arrest Warrants
• Using a Ruse to Enter a Residence
• Mental Patients and Residential Searches
• Handcuffs and Detentions

   MARCH 6, 2009

• An Officer's Expertise and Probable Cause for a Search Warrant
• Stopping at a Stop Sign, per VC §22450
• Search Warrants and Computers
• Abandonment of a Motel Room and Expectation of Privacy
• Border Searches and Computers

   FEBRUARY 23, 2009

• Search and Seizure - 9th Edition

   JANUARY 30, 2009

• Patdowns for Weapons
• Interrogations and Voluntariness
• Impounding Vehicles Under VC §14602.6(a)(1) as a Discretionary Duty
• Private Citizens as Agents of Law Enforcement
• Law Enforcement Viewing Containers Already Opened by a Private Citizen

   JANUARY 1, 2009

• New and Amended Statutes for 2009

   DECEMBER 7, 2008

• Illegal Detentions and Arrest Warrants
• First Amendment Freedom of Expression
• Detentions vs. Arrest and the Use of Handcuffs
• Switchblade Knives and Dirks or Daggers
• Patdowns and the Odor of Marijuana
• Counterfeit Money and Renting a Motel Room

   NOVEMBER 26, 2008

• Searches of Computers
• Threatening an Illegal Detention
• Searching a Vehicle Incident to Arrest
• Impounding Vehicles After the Driver's Arrest
• Parole Fourth Waivers per PC §3067(a)
• Assaults
• Search Warrants and a Motion to Traverse
• Miranda, Beheler, and the Custodial Interrogation
• Illegal Possession of Metal Knuckles per PC §12020(a)(1)

   NOVEMBER 10, 2008

• Detention of a Motor Vehicle Passenger
• Prolonged Detentions
• Entry of a Residence Pursuant to the Emergency Aid Doctrine
• Parole Searches; Containers Belonging to Another
• Medical Marijuana

   OCTOBER 19, 2008

• Bringing Weapons into a Jail, per PC §4574(a)
• Illegal Lane Change, per VC 22107
• Computers and Search Warrants
• Switchblade Knives
• Graffiti Implements
• Observations from Outside the Curtilage of the Home
• Detentions and Miranda
• Frisks
• Warrantless Vehicle Searches Based on Probable Cause
• Abandoned property and Expectation of Privacy

  BONUS - Frequently Asked Questions about California's Cell Phone Law

   SEPTEMBER 28, 2008

• Miranda; Anticipatory Invocations
• Consensual Searches when a Cotenant Objects
• Warrantless Intrusion into a Side Yard; Plain Sight Observations; Standing on Tiptoes
• Residential Entries; Emergency Aid Doctrine
• DUI Stops by a Non-Traffic Officer in an Unmarked Car
• Patdown Searches

   AUGUST 24, 2008

• Searches Incident to Arrest; Cell Phones
• Sandclubs and Sandbags, per PC §12020(a)(1)
• Consensual Searches During Prolonged Detentions
• Towing and Impounding Vehicles
• Children; Duty of a Parent to Protect
• Robbery; Force During Escape

   JULY 30, 2008

• Hearsay Statements of a Homicide Victim
• First Amendment Freedom of Expression When Offensive to Others
• Residential Burglary; Entry by an Estranged Husband
• "Standing" When the Suspect Denies Ownership
• Homicide; Provocative Act Theory
• Drunk in Public, per PC §647(f)

   JUNE 16, 2008

• Medical Marijuana; Possession of Over 8 Ounces, per H&S §11362.77
• Medical Marijuana; Return of Marijuana to a Qualified Patient
• Kidnapping for Purposes of a Sexual Offense, per PC §209(b)(1)
• Residential Entries; Exigent Circumstances
• Searches Incident to Arrest in a Residence
• Traffic Stops; Illegible License Plates and VC §5201

   MAY 19, 2008

• Arrests in Violation of a State Statute
• Burglary; Breaking and Entering
• Miranda; Jail Inmates and "Cat Out of the Bag"
• Miranda; Functional Equivalent of an Interrogation
• Residential Entries for a Non-Bookable Misdemeanor
• Miranda; Invocation

   APRIL 21, 2008

• Search and Seizure - 8th Edition

   APRIL 10, 2008

• Air Fresheners in the Windshield, per VC §26708 (a)(2)
• Detentions and Reasonable Suspicion
• Peace Officers' Rights
• Traffic Stops and Reasonable Suspicion
• First Amendment Freedom of Expression, Trespassing, and Shopping Malls 
  (Bonus: First Amendment Expressive Activity)
• Fourth Waiver Probation Searches Without Suspicion

   MARCH 12, 2008

• Sexual Assault; Victim Unconscious of the Nature of the Act
• Possession of a Completed Check; per PC §475c
• Possession of a Weapon by an Inmate and Self-Defense
• Residential Entry Serving a Misdemeanor Bench Warrant
• Detentions; Spotlighting
• Miranda; Equivocal Invocations and an Officer's Duty to Clarify

   FEBRUARY 5, 2008

• Miranda; Ignoring an Attempted Invocation
• Airport Searches as an Administrative Search
• Arrests and Probable Cause
• Search Warrants and Good Faith
• Miranda; Asking for an Attorney
• Arson; Burning Community Property

   JANUARY 1, 2008

• New and Amended Statutes Edition