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Searching Cell Phones:
What’s That Vibrating In Your Pocket?
Legal Question of The Week

Vol. 2, Number 3
January 23, 2009 

Brian Beasley
Blackberry Spokesperson and Legal Adviser, HPPD

            Today’s case is a tragic tale of three criminals who attempted a daring trip from Alabama to New York armed only with $14,790.00 in good and lawful U.S. Currency, several fictitious licenses, a crack pipe, baking soda, 26 uncut sheets of counterfeit $100 bills, and a cell phone.  They put up a valiant effort to escape the long arm of the law, but ultimately failed miserably.  In today’s legal update, we discuss some of the uses of baking soda, the legality of searching the contents of a cell phone incident to arrest, and I’ll even throw in a helpful tip or two for those of you who are considering a life of crime.¹

            In recent years, cell phones have exploded as vast repositories of all kinds of information.  Gone are the “bag phones” and the car phones that were wired directly into the car battery.²  Now even the simplest of phones can contain text messages, call histories, and contact information and the most complex can contain as much information as a personal computer, with emails, pictures, videos, and other media.  The legal community has struggled to keep up with how “private” this information is with regards to the Fourth Amendment.

            Last week, the Fourth Circuit shed a little more light on the issue in a case called United States v. Murphy.  The Murphy case deals with the search of a cell phone seized incident to arrest and while it doesn’t answer all of the questions surrounding these items, it provides some good law for police to use to gain access to this type of information. Read More

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Rental Cars and Reasonable Expectations:
Not Just A Country Song Title
Legal Question of The Week

Vol. 2, Number 2
January 16, 2009 

Brian Beasley
Reasonable Person and Legal Adviser, HPPD

            I decided this week to start my songwriting career after a moment of serendipity¹ brought the following lyric to mind, which I thought would launch me to superstardom:  “When we left Enterprise and got into the back seat, I didn’t know how far she would go, but my mind was full of rental cars and reasonable expectations.”²  I’m having some trouble with the rest of the song, though.  So far, the guy has lost the girl, his dog has died, and his trailer has rolled down the hill into the creek, but since it’s an upbeat song I need a happy ending.

            While I was working on the song, I also realized that the topic of rental cars would make for a good legal update.  Here’s this week’s hypothetical situation: Read More

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When Parents Call The Police: How To Handle Undisciplined Juveniles
Legal Question of The Week

Vol. 2, Number 1
January 9, 2009 

Brian Beasley
Proud Papa and Legal Adviser, HPPD 

            Before we get into this week’s legal issue, let me wish everyone a happy new year.  Here in the legal office, we have determined that our new year’s resolution will be to stop trying to be funny and just give you the legal information you need without a lot of footnotes and wisecracks.  After all, the law is serious stuff and should be treated with the utmost dignity and respect.¹

            Alright, with that out of the way, let’s get to our hypothetical situation: Read More