TexasCHLforum.com

gigag04 wrote:

android wrote: It has been ruled over and over that possession of legal objects that have sometimes been used by criminals to commit crimes is NOT reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or that the possessor intends to commit a crime.

Where has this been ruled and under what context?

You can start with St. John v. McColley, et al.

Alamogordo PD detained St. John because he was open carrying which they claimed created reasonable suspicion of a crime. Open carry is legal in NM.

On September 8, 2009, Federal District Judge Bruce D. Black, issued an order previously examined here, that concluded as a matter of law that Alamogordo police officiers violated Matthew St. John's constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment because they seized and disarmed him even though there was not "any reason to believe that a crime was afoot." Judge Black's opinion is consistent with numerous high state and federal appellate court rulings, including the United States Supreme Court, holding that there is no firearms exception to the Fourth Amendment.

http://www.deloc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3048" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If a gun can't be suspicious, then I don't think plastic tubing and gardening supplies can be suspicious either.


You've pulled a few corner cases out of the woodwork, but I meant common legal to own objects and you probably knew that.

rotor wrote:To be a devils advocate, what if the police were watching a suspected meth shop and checking the license plates of every person going in or out? And then checking garbage of those people to see if there were traces of amphetamines or whatever one tests for? Would we be so critical or would that be considered good police work.

Where can you buy meth legally?

It has been ruled over and over that possession of legal objects that have sometimes been used by criminals to commit crimes is NOT reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed or that the possessor intends to commit a crime.

If the police can follow you home because you bought hydroponics at a gardening store and SOME people use hydroponics to grow pot, that opens a huge can of worms. Ammo is reasonable suspicion of murder? Fertilizer is reasonable suspicion of terrorism? Gasoline is reasonable suspicion of arson? A crowbar is reasonable suspicion of burglary?

This whole thing stinks from the beginning.

DocV wrote:There seems to be a lot more to this story. Other sources point out both husband and wife are former CIA employees. The wife is a lawyer and a VP for a local financial company. According to http://www.pastrylive.com/wp-content/up ... s/acd.html the couple was, at one time, heavily into Cake Decorating and founded the American Cake Decorating Magazine.

Based on my training and experience, it was quite obvious they were growing weed to make funny pastries.