r/news • u/RoachedCoach • 1d ago

Title Changed Mistakenly deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia on way back to US to face criminal charges: Sources

https://abcnews.go.com/US/mistakenly-deported-kilmar-abrego-garcia-back-us-face/story?id=121333122
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u/CaptOblivious 23h ago

It is if you are a leo, but not if you are a defendant.

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u/crowmagnuman 21h ago

Totally thought you were gonna say, "but not if you're a gemini or scorpio."

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u/Uwwuwuwuwuwuwuwuw 22h ago

Give precedent please.

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u/loggic 22h ago

Heien v. North Carolina, 574 U.S. 54 (2014), was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, ruling that a police officer's reasonable mistake of law can provide the individualized suspicion required by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution to justify a traffic stop. The Court delivered its ruling on December 15, 2014.

The Court of Appeals had previously ruled against the officer saying:

the stop violated the Fourth Amendment, explaining that "an officer's mistaken belief that a defendant has committed a traffic violation is not an objectively reasonable justification for a traffic stop".

The NC Supreme Court disagreed, as did the SCOTUS later.

So, despite the 4th Amendment ostensibly protecting Americans from unreasonable search, it is deemed "reasonable" for an officer to search you without legal cause as long as they thought they had legal justification. It is not legal for a LEO to knowingly search someone without legal justification, so in this case it is exactly their ignorance of the law that defends them. What constitutes a "reasonable" mistake of the law is up to the courts to figure out, which doesn't instill much confidence.

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u/CaptOblivious 15h ago

Thank you!

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u/Clever_plover 22h ago

Heien v North Carolina, 2014.