What is a Seizure?
The Fourth Amendment protects persons and property from unreasonable seizures. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 585 (1980). In its civil rights practice, Kennedy & Oliver represents people who are wrongfully detained, wrongfully arrested, suffer excessive force, suffer sexual assault and suffer the loss or destruction of property at the hands of government officials. The United States Constitution protects our bodies from loss of liberty and injury and our property from damage and destruction when illegal government action causes the injury or loss. The legal source for the constituional protection from personal injury and property damage comes mainly from the prohibition of unreasonable seizures as stated in the Fourth Amenmdment to the United States Constitution.
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Tutorial: What is a search?
Law enforcement officers and the public often have the misconception that an entry into a person's home, absent an active "looking for something or someone", is not a search under the Fourth Amendment. However, the physical act of crossing a home's threshold constitutes a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 576 (1980). Always remember that "search" is a legal term of art that means more than simply seeking out something or someone. Our courts describe a "search" as an intrusion upon a person's reasonable expectation of privacy.
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