In briefs: High court rules on cops’ mistakes
The Supreme Court pulled back on the “exclusionary rule” Wednesday and ruled that evidence from an illegal search can be used if a police officer made an innocent mistake.
The 5-4 opinion signals the court is ready to rethink this key rule in the criminal law and restricts its reach. It will also give prosecutors and judges nationwide more leeway to make use of evidence that might have been seen as questionable before.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the guilty should not “go free” just because a computer error or a misunderstanding between police officers led to a wrongful arrest or search.
He said good evidence, even if obtained in a bad search, can be used against a suspect unless the police deliberately or recklessly violated his rights.
Wednesday’s ruling upheld the drug and gun charges against an Alabama man who was stopped by an officer who had been told there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. That was a mistake, but during the stop, the officer found methamphetamine and a pistol in the car.
Las Vegas
Man says he beat wife to defend self
The husband of a former Nevada state judge was sentenced Wednesday to three to 10 years in prison for hitting his wife in the head with a frying pan at their home.
Before he was sentenced, Edward Lee Halverson, 49, stunned a Las Vegas courtroom by saying he “clocked” former judge Elizabeth Halverson on Sept. 4 because she threatened to stab him.
“If she wouldn’t have pulled a knife on me and threatened me, I wouldn’t have clocked her,” Halverson said, standing in shackles before the judge. “I defended myself.”
Elizabeth Halverson, who was banned from the bench for mishandling cases and mistreating staff, uses bottled oxygen and a motorized scooter.
“You didn’t ‘clock’ your wife,” Clark County District Court Judge David Barker replied. “You beat your wife. To the point where I saw multiple lacerations on her.”
Holland Township, N.J.
Boy named Hitler, siblings in custody
Three New Jersey siblings whose names have Nazi connotations have been placed in state custody, police said.
The children, ranging in age from 3 to under 1, were removed from their home Friday. They drew attention last month when a supermarket bakery refused to put the name of the oldest – Adolf Hitler Campbell – on a birthday cake.
State workers didn’t tell police why the children were taken, police Sgt. John Harris said.
A spokeswoman for the state Division of Youth and Family Services, Kate Bernyk, said she would not comment on any specific case, but she said the state would not remove children from a home simply because of their names.
A family court hearing is scheduled for today.