The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to throw out the incriminating evidence on the theory that the search was unconstitutional because it had been incident to an arson investigation and not strictly to enforce the terms of the defendant s probation. CCI has long advocated for tough supervision of offenders released into communities on probation or parole. In 1998, we helped secure an important victory in this regard through our amicus brief in Pennsylvania v. Scott . In Scott the Supreme Court reversed a decision that had extended the exclusionary rule used in criminal trials to parole revocation hearings and had struck down the common practice of requiring paroled convicts to consent to routine warrantless searches as a condition of release. Each year literally hundreds of thousands of convicts are released on probation and parole into neighborhoods across the nation.
Many re-offend with tragic consequences for their victims and themselves.
The use of warrantless searches both to enforce the terms of community supervision and generally to deter crime will not only protect law-abiding citizens, it will also help the former inmates themselves, who must stay out of trouble in order to stay out of prison. Taking on this important cause, CCI pro bono counsel Andrew Vollmer of Wilmer Cutler and Lyle Roberts of Wilson Sonsini have stepped forward to file an amicus brief on CCI s behalf. CCI will argue that in this context society s interest in deterring crime, protecting communities, and rehabilitating offenders should outweigh Fourth Amendment concerns. CCI Addresses IDA Conference On Civility Ordinances CCI Senior Counsel Johannes Galley recently addressed members of the International Downtown Association on the subject of the effective enactment and enforcement of civility ordinances. For example, San Francisco authorities successfully defended their program by showing the trial judge that police guidelines and training limited enforcement to troublesome behavior.