As a criminal defense attorney in New York with offices in Westchester County, White Plains and Orange County, it is important to protect individual's constitutional rights against illegal or overzealous police conduct.
For example, in the Town of Harrision, New York local and State Law Enforcement officers make countless arrests for DWI, drug possession, drug sale and gun cases. The Town of Harrison is recognized as a very busy court as major highways pass through the court's jurisdiction resulting in the aforementioned arrests. Likewise all the courts on the I-95 corridor (Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, Larchmont, Mamaroneck) also have a similar volume of arrests. When analyzing these arrests top criminal defense attorneys focus on any violation of Constitutional rights as part of the criminal defense.
The New York State and Federal Constitutions prohibit against "unreasonable search and seizures" and from warrants not issued based upon "probable cause". As the United States Supreme Court has held in Katz v. U.S. 389 US 347, Analysis may turn on whether the person had a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Law enforcement knows that there are exceptions to the search warrant requirement despite a strong judicial preference for search warrants. Two of those exceptions are the consent search and the emergency doctrine.
In People v Harper, 100 AD3d 772, police officers responded to an altercation between three women but when the police arrived the altercation had ended. The two women accused in the altercation had gone to their apartment and were arrested for the assault. One of the women was handcuffed and the police officers decided to search the apartment but it was found that no emergency existed to allow the search without a valid warrant. In addition, even thought there was consent to the search of her apartment the Court found that the consent was not voluntary and all recovered evidence was suppressed.
In People v Mormon, 100 AD3d 782, a conviction was reversed as the prosecution did not meet its burden of showing that a search without a warrant was justified under the emergency doctrine where a search occurred 45 minutes after police arrived outside the defendant's apartment in response to a earlier shooting. The search was in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights and the evidence seized was suppressed.
These are clear examples of a violation individual's Constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizures.
If you or a loved one has been arrested call the law office of Proto, Sachs & Brown, LLP and we will help you determine if any of your Constitutional rights have been violated and how that violation can help the criminal defense of your case. We provide a free consultation. (914) 946-4808