Legal Update

US Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Police in DC House Party Case Larry E. Holtz, Esq. A boisterous, late night Washington, DC, party leads to the arrest of partygoers and, ultimately, to a decision regarding probable cause. Recently, in District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. ___ (2018), the United States Supreme Court rejected a claim made by 16 trespassing partygoers that the police lacked probable cause to arrest them. The circumstances unfolded at about 1:00 a.m. in the…

Restricting Sex Offenders’ Access to Social Media Web Sites Violates First Amendment Larry E. Holtz, Esq.  “To foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights.” In Packingham v. North Carolina, 137 S.Ct. 1730 (2017), the United States Supreme Court addressed a North Carolina statute making it a felony for any registered sex offender to gain access to “a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender…

Larry E. Holtz, Esq. A First Amendment Right to Record the Police   “Every Circuit Court of Appeals to address this issue . . . has held that there is a First Amendment right to record police activity in public.” With major advances in technology and the widespread ownership of smartphones, civilian recording of police officers has become common place. Recently, in Fields v. City of Philadelphia (3rd Cir. 2017), the Third Circuit joined a growing array of federal circuit…

Larry E. Holtz, Esq. DEADLY FORCE: AN OFFICER’S FAILURE TO SHOUT A WARNING In its first decision of 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court renders a determination regarding qualified immunity in a police shooting case. Recently, in White v. Pauly, 137 S.Ct. 548 (2017), the United States Supreme Court addressed “the situation of an officer who – having arrived late at an ongoing police action and having witnessed shots being fired by one of several individuals in a house surrounded by…