The New York Times reported that in a staggering number of cases, the generally pro-police trial judges in New York are throwing out gun possession charges. This is not because of a new found love for guns, but because of the police officer’s unconstitutional and wrongful searches of random individuals in public:
“[T]he judge, John E. Sprizzo of United States District Court in Manhattan, concluded that the police had simply reached into [the citizen’s fanny] pack without cause, found the gun, then “tailored” testimony to justify the illegal search. ‘You can’t have open season on searches,’ said Judge Sprizzo, who refused to allow the gun as evidence, prompting prosecutors to drop the case last May.”
Unfortunately, that is where this case, and over 20 similar cases ended. No action was taken against the police officer who conducted the unconstitutional search and provided the testimony which the judge found to be tailored to justify the illegal search:
“[A] closer look at those prosecutions reveals something that has not been trumpeted: more than 20 cases in which judges found police officers’ testimony to be unreliable, inconsistent, twisting the truth, or just plain false. The judges’ language was often withering: “patently incredible,” “riddled with exaggerations,” “unworthy of belief.” The outrage usually stopped there. With few exceptions, judges did not ask prosecutors to determine whether the officers had broken the law, and prosecutors did not notify police authorities about the judges’ findings. The Police Department said it did not monitor the rulings and was aware of only one of them;”
Once again, having stronger gun rights would help protect our other civil rights, including the 4th amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.