Many people who must regularly engage in air travel find themselves frustrated and annoyed by the delays and inconvenience associated with the activities of TSA screeners.\u00a0 A new federal appellate court decision by a Florida court may give those traveling for work or pleasure new reasons to be concerned about the conduct of TSA screeners.\u00a0 The decision upheld the admission of child pornography found in the suitcase of a traveler that was discovered during a random search of the defendant\u2018s suitcases.\u00a0 This fundamental invasion of the traveler\u2019s privacy constitutes a further infringement on the Fourth Amendment protection of a traveler\u2019s unreasonable search and seizures.\u00a0 This decision conflicts with two prior decisions that excluded evidence obtained in similar searches by TSA agents.\u00a0 All citizens are protected from unreasonable search and seizures by law enforcement officers by the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.\u00a0 However, the judge in this new case found that the TSA screener was not engaged in \u201cgeneral law enforcement objectives.\u201d<\/p>\n
The citizen was planning to take a flight when a TSA employee performed a random physical search of the traveler\u2019s suitcase looking for travel hazards that might be used for terrorist activity. The agent allegedly discovered images of child pornography while looking for weapons or explosives.\u00a0 The TSA agent notified local police of the screener\u2018s discovery which led to police obtaining a search warrant for the man\u2018s computer and other electronic devices in his luggage.\u00a0 The man moved to have the images suppressed claiming that they were discovered in a way that violated his Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure.\u00a0 The defendant\u2019s motion to suppress the evidence was denied.<\/p>\n
The appellate court distinguished the earlier cases indicating that in those cases the TSA screeners were no longer searching for weapons or explosives.\u00a0 It would seem that given the reasoning of this decision that a court may admit ANY evidence discovered during a TSA search as long as the TSA agent simply purports to be searching for weapons or explosives.\u00a0 While the Supreme Court may have to resolve the conflicting rulings on this issue, anyone boarding an airplane would be well advised not to put anything in their suitcase that they would prefer the police not find.\u00a0 If you are subject to a search, an experienced Wichita criminal defense attorney may be able to challenge the legal basis for the search or the scope and manner of the search.\u00a0 If the court finds that the search violated your Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizures, your Wichita criminal defense attorney<\/a> may file a motion to have the evidence suppressed and seek to have your charges dismissed.<\/p>\n Contact a skilled Wichita, Kansas, airport criminal defense attorney at Cummings & Cummings to determine what legal options are available in your situation and to begin planning your most effective defense. Call 316-264-1548 for a Free initial consultation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Free Consultations |\u00a0Evening & Weekend Appointments Available |\u00a0Visa & MasterCard Accepted<\/p>\n The Wichita, Kansas, law firm of Cummings & Cummings, LLC provides experienced and aggressive legal representation in criminal defense and personal injury cases. We serve the south-central Kansas region including cities such as Augusta, El Dorado, Derby, Mulvane, Newton, Andover, Salina, Kansas City, Cheney, Kingman, Wellington, Winfield, and Eureka.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Many people who must regularly engage in air travel find themselves frustrated and annoyed by the delays and inconvenience associated with the activities of TSA screeners.\u00a0 A new federal appellate court decision by a Florida court may give those traveling for work or pleasure new reasons to be concerned about the conduct of TSA screeners.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[25,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54\/revisions\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billcummingsllc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}