Friday Night

Its 10:00 on Friday and I am sitting here watching some television.  The Cardinals lost today and fell out of first place.

My oldest daughter had a note sent home from school today.  She scratched another girl in her class on the leg.  When we asked her why she did that, she told us she did it because she wanted to.  We get that answer quite a bit (b/c I wanted to).  Interesting logic.  God loves 4 year olds (or He is paying me back for all of the shit I did as a kid).

On another note, on Facebook, a friend of mine posted a new Supreme Court opinion, Kentucky v. King (or King v. Kentucky - I don't feel like looking it up).  In any event, the Court in King decided, essentially, that if the police accidentally created exigent circumstances they could enter a house without a warrant.  Long story short, in King, the defendants were in their house.  Police were chasing another man threw the apartment building when the lost sight of him.  They believed he went into a particular apartmnet, so they knocked on the door and announced their presence.  They heard scuffling behind the door and assumed the people (the presumed person they were chasing) was destroying evidence.  Tnhey broke in the door and found King with drugs even though he was not the target of the investigation.  King said the cops were not in his apartment legally because they did not have a warrant.  the Court disagreed.

I posted a quick note in response indicating I disagreed with the opinion because it could give officers a means to "create" circumstances that would justify a warrantless intrusion.  There is a built in tension between police and defense counsel.  Many times, we have to present the police as evil, or that they only act with bad intentions.  I know for me, and I would assume for most of the defense attorneys that I know, that all officcers are not bad or trying to just lock up anybody for any reason.  Clearly, most police (the vast vast majority) are good people trying to do things the right way, the right way in a job that is largely thankless.

Saying that, though, the various protections of the U.S constitution and relevant state constitutions are not abot protecting citizens from the police officers who have integrity and character.  Instead, those protections are meant to protect citizens from those officers and law enforcement who are willing to do anything to arrest somebody, gain a prosecution, or otherwise "do their job".  The issue that seems to be largely missed is the protections that are afforded all citizens (not just those related to law enforcement), but all protections are about ensuring the citizens of the USA are protected and remain the rightful owners of this Country.  Once those protections are gone (and they are slowly being taken away), then this Country will be in worse shape.

On a good note, I left work early to get my son's birth certificate from teh county office today.  That was a success.  After, I went to the park to play with the kids.  We came home and made hamburgers for dinner (of course the fun was tempered by the note described above).  All in all, though, a good night.

As always, this is just what I think.

Be Easy

-- CP