Search And Seizure

A federal judge Friday rejected the U.S. government's bid to give the Border Patrol authority to make drug searches at the two immigration checkpoints on major freeways leaving the San Diego area. In a major victory for civil libertarians, Judge J. Lawrence Irving ruled that the government's request to use the checkpoints for both immigration and drug-related stops of motorists violated the Constitution, particularly Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure.

Chinese officials searched the office of an American reporter Sunday, warned her about her activities and said they had arrested one of her sources, said the journalist, Lena Sun of the Washington Post. The officials said they were from the State Security Ministry, in charge of rooting out spies and other threats to national security. They had a search warrant and took personal papers and notebooks from the office safe, Sun said in a written statement.

Irvine police officers routinely coerce drunk-driving suspects into taking a blood test to measure alcohol content and disregard their right to take a urine or breath test instead, according to a class-action lawsuit filed against the city and police officials.

A state appeals court has ruled that the Pasadena Humane Society violated Nicholas and Virginia Conway's constitutional rights when its officers entered their a home without a search warrant to seize their dog, which had earlier been in the street without a leash. The court's May 8 opinion revealed the practice of the Humane Society to enter a residence such as the Conways without a warrant if a dog has been on the loose and the owner is not home.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators served search warrants on a small casino in Huntington Park this week, seizing records and forcing the closure of the club for four hours, officials said Thursday. The management of the Huntington Park Casino is the subject of a 10-month investigation, said Deputy George Ducoulombier. Search warrants were also served on three other locations, but records detailing which documents were confiscated were unavailable Thursday.

The Supreme Court put a new limit on police searches of cars Tuesday, saying that "countless individuals guilty of nothing more serious than a traffic violation" have had their vehicles searched in violation of their rights. In a 5-4 decision, the justices set aside a 1981 opinion that had given police broad authority to search cars whenever they made an arrest.

A federal appeals court on Thursday denied the city of Los Angeles' appeal of a $154,747 jury award to a police officer who was fired six years ago--but later reinstated--for refusing to give Internal Affairs Division investigators a urine sample for a drug test. The U.S.

A coalition of women's groups threatened Monday to go all out to defeat a proposed crime initiative that it believes could threaten a woman's right to abortion in California. And in a related development, Republican U. S. Sen. Pete Wilson acknowledged Monday in an interview that "some people will be confused" about where he stands on abortion as a result of the crime initiative, which he strongly supports.

The tip proved to be on the mark: A young woman wanted by police on a misdemeanor charge would turn herself in to police the very next day, a confidential informant reported in December, 1986. But the woman's motives might not be all they appeared. According to the informant, the suspect would bring with her a secret cache of hypodermic needles and drugs that she was trying to smuggle to awaiting friends in Orange County Jail.