Blog
US v. Gallegos, A Tale of Deceit and Consent: The Fifth Circuit Rules on 4th Amendment Challenge to Cell Phone Extraction and Search
By Stephen J. Haedicke | November 5, 2020
In the recent United States v. Gallegos, the Fifth Circuit considered a defendant’s Motion to Suppress evidence of child pornography that had been found during review of cell phone data extracted from the defendant’s cell phone. Overturning the District Court’s decision to suppress the evidence, the Fifth Circuit held that the defendant had consented to […]
Fifth Circuit Overturns Criminal Conviction Based on Prosecutor’s Misconduct
By Stephen J. Haedicke | September 14, 2020
Prosecutorial misconduct led the Fifth Circuit to overturn a criminal conviction in the recent decision of United States of America v. Thaddeus Beaulieu. The Beaulieu case involved a charge of criminal contempt arising from Beaulieu’s refusal to testify in court against individuals involved in car jackings and bank robberies. After Beaulieu asserted a Fifth Amendment […]
Fifth Circuit Considers Structuring Crimes and Limits on Criminal Forfeiture in Recent Case
By Stephen J. Haedicke | July 21, 2020
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided the case of United States v. Suarez, which involved charges of “structuring” currency transactions. Thirty-one U.S.C. § 5313(a) requires banks to file a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) whenever someone conducts a transaction involving more than $10,000 in cash. Illegal “structuring” occurs when someone conducts multiple transactions to […]
Stephen Haedicke’s Article on Suing Private Companies Under Sec. 1983 Appears in the Federal Lawyer
By Stephen J. Haedicke | July 8, 2020
Stephen Haedicke’s article on whether the Monell standard should apply to protect private companies who have been sued under Section 1983 has been published in the most recent issue of the Federal Lawyer, a publication of the Federal Bar Association. You can read the article below.
Fifth Circuit Decides Two Civil Rights Cases on Qualified Immunity Grounds
By Stephen J. Haedicke | July 2, 2020
Today, the Fifth Circuit release two new opinions in civil rights cases. Unfortunately for the plaintiffs in these cases, in both the Fifth Circuit reversed the district court’s denial of the defendants’ motions for summary judgment and held that the defendants were entitled to have the case dismissed under the doctrine of qualified immunity. The […]
Stephen Haedicke Honored with Award from the Federal Bar Association
By Stephen J. Haedicke | September 16, 2019
This past week I was honored to receive the Outstanding Section or Division Leader Award from the Federal Bar Association. Presented during the FBA’s annual meeting (held this year in Tampa, FL), the award resulted from my on-going work as the chair of the FBA’s Civil Rights Section. You can see a quick video of […]