Impoundment of vehicle was reasonable
Facts On the morning of January 26, 2023, Mississippi Bureau of Investigations Officer Robert Atkinson and Attorney General Investigator Justin Sims (Officer Sims) drove together to 1329 Pleasant Hill Road in the Good Hope Community of Leake County, Mississippi. At the time, Officer Atkinson had been helping local agencies with drug cases, and Officer Sims […]
Search warrant was based on officer’s personal knowledge of controlled buy
Facts Law enforcement recovered methamphetamine and cocaine from a residence in Aberdeen, Mississippi, occupied by Ray Charles Lenoir and his brother. Lenoir’s trial took place on October 8, 2024. The morning before trial began, Lenoir unsuccessfully moved to suppress the drugs and other evidence collected by law enforcement from the residence, asserting that these items […]
Conviction upheld but a reminder that Miranda usage is more expansive than a formal arrest
Facts On Saturday, November 28, 2020, Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Rayner stopped Jason Days, a thirty-five-year-old resident of Mobile, Alabama, for an obstructed license plate. Rayner approached the vehicle, informed Days of the reason for the stop, and asked for his license, registration, and insurance information. Rayner stated that he immediately detected the odor […]
Genuine issues of material fact as to whether the deputies’ actions were objectively reasonable
Facts At approximately 8:02 p.m. on July 26, 2021, Deputy Elward was dispatched to 132 Foote Drive, Braxton, Mississippi, in response to a complaint that a male suspect had broken into and vandalized a residence; it was unknown if items were missing. The dispatch report noted that the suspect had run into nearby woods and […]
Consent does not justify second entry into home
Facts This Fourth Amendment case began with a neighbor’s mistake. The neighbor called 911 to report a possible home invasion but gave officers the wrong address. Acting on that information, officers entered the wrong home to conduct a protective sweep, expecting to find either a vacant house or an intruder. Instead, they found Tyler Harrington […]
Officers had reasonable suspicion that subject was armed and dangerous
Facts During a night-time patrol of a high-crime area, officers with the Shreveport Police Department initiated a traffic stop after observing a driver, later identified as Kenric W. Young, make a left turn without using a signal. One officer activated his vehicle’s emergency lights and sirens, but Young did not stop. Despite sufficient space on […]