Gordon Thompson
An Executive Order signed by Donald Trump on January 25, 2017 entitled Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements has raised many concerns over the scope and potential impacts of the order. The order calls for the immediate construction of a physical wall (“a contiguous…impassable physical barrier”) along the southern border between the United…
Oral arguments were heard Tuesday in the New York Court of Appeals, the State’s highest court, in Facebook’s ongoing battle with the New York County District Attorney’s Office over bulk search warrants for account/user data. The case stems from the 2013 issuance of search warrants for 381 Facebook users’ data , including data from…
Arizona House of Representatives Bill 2305, which would make it a criminal offense in Arizona for a passenger in a motor vehicle to fail to provide ID to police in certain circumstances, was approved in panel yesterday. Although Deputy Pima County Attorney Kathleen Mayer, who testified in favor of this bill before the Arizona…
In State v. Patrick McLeod Nissley, No. CR-15-0393-PR, (2/1/17), the Arizona Supreme Court held that nonconsensual warrantless blood draws as authorized by A.R.S. § 28-1388(E), Arizona’s Medical Blood Draw Exception, require the patient/ defendant either consent to medical treatment or be incapable of consenting to the treatment. The court also said the burden of…
Arizona Senate Bill 1054 seeks to make DUI testing mandatory in all collisions resulting in serious injury or death, where probable cause exists to believe the person caused the accident or where a person is cited for a wide variety of traffic violations. Refusal to submit to DUI testing under those conditions would…
Phoenix Police Department union representatives have described the current state of staffing within the Department as a crisis, citing reduced staffing leading to overtime costs and overwork for its officers. Hiring has essentially been frozen in the wake of the economic crisis of 2008, leading to a 10% reduction in the number of officers…
The Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety reports the number of DUI arrests made by the annual East Valley DUI Task Force fell 25% between 2014-2016, while DUI arrests in Arizona as a whole fell by 14% in that time. However, Underage DUI cases are increasing, as is the median blood alcohol level of…
Arizona law does not provide for expungement of criminal cases and records. A bill introduced in the Arizona State Senate would change that law to allow the court to vacate convictions and order the expungement of records for certain offenses. State Senator Judy Burges has sponsored in the 2017 First Regular Legislative…
In In re $15,379 IN U.S. Currency, No. 2 CA-CV 2015-0166 (12/22/16), the Arizona Court of Appeals held that a trial court erred when it refused to order a County Attorney to return currency which had been seized from an appellant after the civil forfeiture proceeding in which the County Attorney sought to…
In State v. Linares, No. 1 CA-CR 15-0810 (1/01/17), the Arizona Court of Appeals reversed a restitution award because the court held the award was for a cost incurred in the investigation of the crime, and not a cost incurred as a direct result of the defendant’s criminal actions. In an Arizona criminal…