Judge: FBI's Ruse to Catch Poker Champ Violated His 4th Amendment Rights

Started by jimmy olsen, April 17, 2015, 06:46:19 PM

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jimmy olsen

April 17, 2015, 06:46:19 PM
Good news

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-fbis-ruse-catch-poker-champ-vegas-hotel-room-went-n343721

QuoteJudge: FBI's Ruse to Catch Poker Champ in Vegas Hotel Room Went Too Far
By Pete Williams

A federal judge in Las Vegas has ruled that FBI agents went too far when they shut off Internet service to a Las Vegas hotel room last summer, then posed as repairmen so they could get a peek into the room without a search warrant.

FBI agents cut off Internet service to the room at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas where world champion poker player, Paul Phua, 50, was staying last July, and then claimed to be the repairmen summoned to fix it.

The FBI had received a tip that Phua and others in his entourage were illegally taking bets on the World Cup. The agents wore hidden cameras inside the room and said the footage proved those inside were making illegal bets.

On Friday federal Judge Andrew Gordon said the scheme violated Phua's right against unreasonable searches.

"Permitting the government to create the need for the occupant to invite a third party into his or her home would effectively allow the government to conduct warrantless searches of the vast majority of residences and hotel rooms in America," Gordon said.

"The government need only disrupt the phone, cable, Internet, or some other 'non-essential' service, and reasonable people will opt to invite a third party onto their property to repair it, unwittingly allowing government agents into the most private spaces to view and record whatever and whomever they see," he said.

Phua's son, Darren, pleaded guilty to reduced federal charges last month. Five others have reached plea deals as well. Paul Phua continues to fight the charges, and today's ruling is a victory for him.
It is far better for the truth to tear my flesh to pieces, then for my soul to wander through darkness in eternal damnation.

Jet: So what kind of woman is she? What's Julia like?
Faye: Ordinary. The kind of beautiful, dangerous ordinary that you just can't leave alone.
Jet: I see.
Faye: Like an angel from the underworld. Or a devil from Paradise.
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Ideologue

#1
April 17, 2015, 07:55:47 PM
Seems like a lot of fuss could be avoided under a system that didn't irrationally equate liberty rights with privacy rights.
Kinemalogue
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grumbler

#2
April 17, 2015, 07:57:14 PM
Quote from: Ideologue on April 17, 2015, 07:55:47 PM
Seems like a lot of fuss could be avoided under a system that didn't irrationally equate liberty rights with privacy rights.

Seems like a lot of fuss could be avoided under a system that didn't irrationally equate rational concerns with irrational concerns.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

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The Brain

#3
April 18, 2015, 01:24:01 AM
Worst. Hotel. Ever.
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Eddie Teach

#4
April 18, 2015, 01:27:14 AM
Quote from: The Brain on April 18, 2015, 01:24:01 AM
Worst. Hotel. Ever.

I had a drink there once.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

The Brain

#5
April 18, 2015, 01:33:33 AM
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on April 18, 2015, 01:27:14 AM
Quote from: The Brain on April 18, 2015, 01:24:01 AM
Worst. Hotel. Ever.

I had a drink there once.

Did they sell you out to the man?
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Eddie Teach

#6
April 18, 2015, 01:36:47 AM
I was of legal age.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?
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