Game wardens don't need a warrant to stop cars (U.S. Supreme Court declines to take) [View all]
Last edited Mon Mar 5, 2012, 10:01 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The U.S. Supreme Court today granted California game wardens the authority to stop and question motorists on the way out of hunting or fishing grounds to check on what they've bagged.
The justices denied review of a California Supreme Court ruling in June that upheld the vehicle stops without requiring a warrant or evidence of lawbreaking. The National Rifle Association had joined a defense lawyer in asking the high court for a hearing.
The case comes from San Diego, where a warden patrolling a fishing pier through a telescope in August 2007 saw fisherman Bouhn Maikhio reeling in either a lobster or a fish and putting it in a black bag.
The warden stopped Makhio's car and found a live California spiny lobster in the bag. Charged with the misdemeanor of catching a lobster out of season, Maikhio challenged the vehicle stop and search. Lower courts ruled in his favor, but the state's high court ruled unanimously that the warden had acted legally.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/03/05/BAJB1NGE8D.DTL&tsp=1
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